The average price per m² in Sales is 3 891 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 14 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Sales, a municipality of the Albanais between Rumilly and Annecy.
In Sales, the reference price stands at 3 891 €/m² for an apartment. This level reflects the pressure of the Haute-Savoie market, where the closeness of Annecy pulls values well beyond what one would expect of a rural municipality of this size. These values come from DVF data, that is from transactions actually registered with notaries, and not from asking prices. They give an order of magnitude: in a municipality where the house with land dominates, each property still has to be assessed on its floor area, its condition, its plot and its location.
Prices from the DVF file (Demandes de valeurs foncières, published by the DGFiP), transactions actually recorded at the notary at municipality level. Cross-referenced with the Notaires de France - INSEE indices. Learn more about our methodology.
The Sales market is pulled along by that of Annecy, whose prices are among the highest outside Paris. That difference pushes households from the Annecy area towards the Albanais each year, where the same budget still buys a house with land. The volume of apartment sales stays low, around fifteen a year, which makes the average sensitive to the features of the properties sold rather than to any general market movement.
Over the longer term, the path will depend on residential pressure across Haute-Savoie, fed both by the appeal of Annecy and by cross-border employment further north, and on the scarcity of building land in an area that is seeking to preserve its farmland. Energy performance will play a growing part: in a climate where heating weighs, well-insulated properties gain clearly in value.
Sales sits at the upper end of its area: its prices are clearly above those of Rumilly, its immediate neighbour, move ahead of Saint-Félix and stay below Sillingy, which is closer to Annecy.
Sales spreads over the hills of the Albanais, that country of plateaux and small valleys which separates Lake Annecy from Lake Bourget, a few kilometres north of Rumilly. The territory, drained by the Chéran and its tributaries, was shaped by mixed farming and dairy cattle, still very present today in the landscape of meadows, hedgerows and scattered farms.
The name of the municipality remains linked to the de Sales family, from which came François de Sales, bishop of Geneva at the turn of the 17th century and one of the major religious figures of Savoy. The traditional housing of the Albanais, with its broad-roofed farms and its hamlets scattered over the ridges, still shapes the municipality: Sales has no very dense village centre, but a succession of built groupings linked by the plateau roads.
Sales is today a residential municipality of the Rumilly area, itself within the orbit of Annecy. The closeness of Rumilly, an industrial and service centre of the Albanais, and quick access to the A41 linking Annecy to Chambéry shape everyday life. This position, some fifteen kilometres from Annecy without its prices, is the main driver of the local residential market.
According to INSEE, the French national statistics institute, Sales has around 2 325 inhabitants. The market serves first of all families and working households from the Annecy area and from Rumilly, looking for a house with land in a rural setting a short distance from the employment centres. Demand overwhelmingly concerns the main residence, in a stock dominated by the detached house and by converted farm buildings. Some buyers come from Annecy, where prices are markedly higher, which keeps up continuous pressure on the municipalities of the Albanais and limits access for local first-time buyers.
The reference price in Sales stands at 3 891 €/m² for an apartment. This figure comes from DVF data, the sales actually signed before notaries. It is an average: a recent house with land on the higher ground and an older property in need of renovation in a hamlet sit clearly apart from that baseline, depending on floor area, condition, plot and location within the municipality.
The municipality is made up of several built groupings spread over the hills rather than a single centre. The areas close to amenities and to the roads towards Rumilly are sought after for everyday convenience. The best-facing hamlets, with open views over the Albanais and the mountain ranges, concentrate demand for houses with land, particularly among buyers from Annecy.
The municipality lies three kilometres from Rumilly and some fifteen from Annecy, with quick access to the A41 linking Annecy to Chambéry. Rumilly station, on the line from Aix-les-Bains to Annecy, rounds out the service for commuting. This double accessibility explains a good part of the residential appeal of the Albanais.
The local market is overwhelmingly one of detached houses, in keeping with the rural character of the municipality. A supply of apartments exists but remains marginal, concentrated in a few small recent developments. For a family main-residence project, the house with land is the dominant product; an apartment can suit a first purchase in an area where house prices are high.
The protection of farmland and the aim of limiting the spread of housing strictly govern building rights outside the existing groupings. The hilly relief can raise questions of access and run-off depending on the plot, and individual sewage systems remain in place in the isolated areas. As everywhere, energy performance weighs on running costs and on value. Consulting the local planning document at the town hall before any project remains useful.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).