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European property
The French city is enticingParisians with its relatively
low prices and bourgeoisallure. ByAlice Kantor
J
onathan Carrette, a 34-year-
old IT quality manager, was
tired of the stress and the long
hours of life in Paris. So when,
in 2017, the opportunity arose
to move to Bordeaux, he jumped at it.
His wife got a job in the area, and
when a new high-speed train line con-
necting Paris to Bordeaux in two hours
opened in 2017, Carrette could travel to
the capital three days a week and work
remotely the rest of the time. “We had
been wanting to move for a while,” he
says. “Paris is so exhausting. It’smetro,
boulot, dodo— tube, work, sleep — every
day; and by the time you get home
you're drained. Here, when I'm through
with work, I take my daughter and go to
the beach.”
The young family moved from a 50 sq
m rented apartment in the Paris sub-
urbs to an 80 sq m house that was two-
thirds of the price and just 15 minutes
from the Dune of Pilat beach. “The life-
style here is idyllic,” he says.
Carrette is one of many Parisians who
have left the capital for the south-west
city of Bordeaux, taking advantage of
the new train line, the relatively low
property prices and increasingly flexi-
ble work arrangements.
At the same time, prices for second-
hand flats in Bordeaux have been rising
sharply, growing 79 per cent between
2009 and 2019, according to Notaires de
France. According to an aggregate of 14
national property agencies’ data, the
LPI-SeLoger barometer, the price for a
square metre of Bordeaux real estate
reached €4,706 last year. “For a while,A fine Bordeaux
(Above) The
central district
of Triangle d’Or
AlamyCannes, according to the LPI-SeLoger
index. Yet compared with the capital,
the city is still affordable. According to
Notaires de France, the price of second-
hand apartments in Bordeaux is €4,320
per sq m, still a long way from Paris’s
€9,890 per sq m.
The Bordeaux property market was
overlooked for years, says Sabatié-Ga-
rat, referring to high vacancy rates and
derelict neighbourhoods in the early
noughties. Then, in 2002, an ambitious
redevelopment project started turning
the grimy parts of Bordeaux into bour-
geois areas. Businesses were built
around the Gare Saint Jean, a train sta-
tion once bounded by old shops. The
quays of the Garonne, a river running
through the city and splitting the
smarter left bank from the right, were
cleaned up, giving pedestrians the
opportunity to take a stroll on the river's
banks or sit at a restaurant, bar or by the
new plots of green land.Saint-Michel, a historic quarter with a
basilica, Jardin Public, a central district
surrounding a large park and museums,
and Chartrons, known as the Bor-
deaux “Marais”, became the city’s hip-
pest neighbourhoods. A wireless tram-
way system stopping around the city
centre was extended, which became a
boon for tourists. And thebassin à flot
neighbourhood, site of the former
docks, was boosted by the creation of
housing units, offices, shops and a wine
museum. The city is listed as a Unesco
World Heritage site. “The street art is
unbelievable,” says Carrette.
In the Triangle d’Or, a central district
of boutiques and restaurants a short
walk from the quays, a renovated three-
bedroom apartment in a 19th-century
mansion is being marketed for €1.26m
at Christie’s International Real Estate.
Nearby, Sotheby’s International
Realty is selling a two-bedroom apart-
ment for €1.05m.the high-speed rail line has not been
welcomed by all. In 2017, a spate of signs
were erected reading “ Parisien, rentre
chez toi” — Parisian, go home. Some
locals complain about increased conges-
tion: Bordeaux is now France’s third-
busiest city in terms of road traffic.
Australian Mike Foster, a web-mar-
keting specialist, says he has been
priced out of Bordeaux. In 2009, he
started off with a €120,000 flat in the
city centre, but has been forced to move
further afield with subsequent pur-
chases. Today, he lives in a village north-
east of Bordeaux called Saint-
André-de-Cubzac and wants to move
again but is struggling to find something
within his €400,000 budget. “Residents
keep going further out,” he says.
“€300,000 is no longer enough to buy
property in Bordeaux,” he says.
Despite the ire directed at Parisians
for rising prices, local factors have con-
tributed to the city’s prosperity. Small
businesses have blossomed in recent
years, especially in the tourism and
retail sectors. In 2012, there were 2,500
small businesses in Bordeaux, accord-
ing to the National Statistics Institute; in
2016, there were more than 5,000.
Property prices flattened in the sec-
ond half of 2019 after reaching an aver-
age of €4,500 per sq m, says Michel
Lechenault, editorial director at SeLo-
ger. Prices could tick up should foreign
buyers come in, he says. So far foreign-
ers have shown little interest, but that
could change. “I could see foreigners
with a high purchasing power buying in
Bordeaux in the future,” says Lechen-
ault. “It’s a really nice city.”GaronneBORDEAUX
SAINT GENÈSTriangle D’orCHARTRONSSAINT SEURINGare
Saint-JeanSAINT
MICHELmaps news.com/©HEREFRANCE
kmi/B U Y I N G G U I D E
The fastest train between Bordeaux and
Paris takes 2hr 4 minutes
According to the National Statistics
Institute, the number of second homes in
Bordeaux increased 78 per cent between
2011 and 2016 to 7,058 — in a city of less
than 250,000 inhabitants
Thenumber of booked nights on Airbnb
and HomeAway increased 15 per cent in
one year to 54,383 in December 2019
alone, according to AirDNA
What you can buy for...
€385,000A one-bedroom flat in
Saint-Genès
€1.1mA three-bedroom apartment in the
Triangle d’Or
€3mA grand 19th-century château on
theoutskirts of the cityIn Saint-Seurin, a quieter but still cen-
tral neighbourhood named after the
basicila, a formerhôtel particulier —or
grand townhouse — with a garden and
garage can be bought for £3.3m through
Bordeaux Properties.
The recent increase in Parisians relo-
cating to Bordeaux since the launch ofeverything would sell at any price,” says
Aymeric Sabatié-Garat, associate direc-
tor Barnes Bordeaux. The city brought
in lots of investors between 2013 and
2017, he says, with most looking to buy
in the city centre.
Bordeaux is now France’s fourth-most
expensive city after Paris, Lyon and(Left) A two-
bedroom
apartment near
Triangle d’Or,
€1.05m,
Sotheby’s
International
Pierre FrollanniFEBRUARY 22 2020 Section:Weekend Time: 19/2/2020 - 17: 54 User: rosalind.sykes Page Name: RES3, Part,Page,Edition: RES, 3, 1