The average price per m² in Villarembert is 2 446 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 99 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Villarembert and the La Toussuire resort, in Savoie.
The average apartment price in Villarembert stands at 2 446 €/m², based on DVF transactions actually registered with notaries (DVF is the French record of notarised property sales). The municipality covers two very distinct realities: the old village of Le Villard, at around 1 400 metres, with its stone and timber houses, and the La Toussuire resort, higher on the plateau at around 1 800 metres, where the stock of tourist developments is concentrated. It is this collective mountain stock, studios and small resort apartments, that weighs most in sales. Aspect, access to the ski-front, floor level and the view over the Arves massif make the value of a property vary sharply. The resort is linked to the Sybelles area, one of the largest linked ski areas in the Alps, which supports second-home demand. These figures come from the DVF database, a municipal benchmark to be refined property by property.
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 Villarembert market is a resort market, paced by visitor numbers at La Toussuire more than by a permanent residential economy. Demand comes overwhelmingly from second-home buyers, sensitive to the resort's family positioning, to its fairly direct access from the Maurienne valley and to its link with the vast Sybelles ski area. This structure makes the market more dependent on the winter sports cycle and on snow cover than that of a lowland municipality.
Several factors bear on the coming years. Resorts at moderate altitude such as La Toussuire are exposed to the question of snow cover and to the need to diversify into four-season activity. Energy renovation of the older stock of tourist developments is becoming a bargaining point, in a demanding high-altitude climate. Finally, the loi Montagne (France's mountain-planning law) and the constrained land of the plateau limit new supply, which concentrates transactions on the existing stock rather than on new schemes.
A family resort of the Maurienne, Villarembert sits far below the large linked resorts of the Tarentaise and the Oisans. The gap with prestige ski areas such as Les Belleville or Alpe d'Huez is considerable, which makes it an affordable gateway to a vast ski area.
Villarembert is a municipality of the Maurienne valley, on a slope overlooking Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, in the Arves massif. The old village, known as Le Villard, is an ancient mountain settlement, turned for centuries towards livestock, summer pastures and subsistence farming on the slopes. Like many mid-mountain municipalities of the Maurienne, it long lived from mixed farming, transhumance and the seasonal migration of its inhabitants towards the plain.
The turning point came with skiing. On the high plateau overlooking the village, the La Toussuire resort developed from the middle of the 20th century, geared to family winter sports tourism. The municipality then shifted from a farming economy to a resort economy, with the building of apartment developments, shops and ski lifts on the ski area, while the old village kept its original fabric lower down the slope.
The decisive stage was the creation, in the early 2000s, of the linked Sybelles ski area, which connects La Toussuire to the neighbouring Maurienne resorts, including Le Corbier, Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves, Saint-Jean-d'Arves and Les Bottières. This vast area, one of the largest linked ski networks in France, changed the scale of the resort and its appeal, offering direct access from Villarembert to a very wide network of slopes. Facing the resort, the Aiguilles d'Arves close the horizon and remain the municipality's landscape landmark.
Villarembert has 253 year-round inhabitants, but its actual population runs into the thousands during the winter holidays. The housing stock is dominated by second homes and the tourist accommodation of La Toussuire, studios and small resort apartments, far ahead of the main residences of permanent inhabitants. Buyers are therefore mostly second-home purchasers, families looking for a ski base in a family-friendly and accessible resort, rather than local first-time buyers. The few houses of the old village of Le Villard form a market apart, narrow and infrequent, distinct from the resort apartments.
The average apartment price in Villarembert is 2 446 €/m², based on DVF transactions actually completed before notaries. It is a municipal average, covering mainly the sales of the La Toussuire resort. An older studio in need of renovation and a recent apartment at the foot of the slopes, with a view over the Arves massif, do not trade at the same level. Aspect, floor level and distance from the ski-front explain a good share of the gaps.
Yes, these are two very different markets. Le Villard, at around 1 400 metres, is the historic village, made of stone and timber houses where supply for sale remains rare. La Toussuire, higher on the plateau, accounts for most transactions, with its tourist developments, studios and small apartments. The value of a property depends first on its position within the resort, its access to the slopes and its view.
La Toussuire is part of the linked Sybelles ski area, one of the largest linked ski networks in France, which connects it to several neighbouring Maurienne resorts. This access to a very wide network of slopes from Villarembert supports the resort's appeal and second-home demand. It is a value factor for an apartment, just as much as immediate proximity to a lift departure.
The municipality overlooks Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, in the Maurienne valley, served by the A43 motorway and by a regional station on the Maurienne route. From the valley, a mountain road climbs to the village of Le Villard and then to the La Toussuire resort. This access, more direct than that of many large Tarentaise resorts, contributes to the resort's family-friendly and accessible positioning.
For a resort apartment, service charges, the condition of the common parts and the rental management arrangement are decisive, especially in tourist developments. In a mountain area, the energy performance certificate weighs heavily on a stock that is sometimes old and exposed to a high-altitude climate. It is worth checking the resort's rules, any letting obligations and the local planning document before any project.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).