Buy a house in Haute-Savoie

Three choices stand out. The French Genevois, from Saint-Julien-en-Genevois to Annemasse and the foot of the Salève, puts the border a few minutes away; the shore of Lake Geneva, from Thonon-les-Bains to Évian-les-Bains, is linked to Geneva by the Léman Express; and Annecy, about forty-five minutes away by motorway outside rush hour, offers a town and a lake. Home Select times each commute at the hours you will make it, border crossing included, before putting a house to you.

Lake Annecy offers a lively town all year, water reputed to be among the cleanest in Europe and its eastern shore, the top of the market; over 12 months to end of June 2026, the median house in Annecy sold for €6,100/m². Lake Geneva offers the scale of an inland sea, the spa towns of Évian and Thonon, and Geneva and Lausanne within reach by train or boat, in a narrower market: 241 sales in Évian-les-Bains. On both lakes, waterfront houses almost always sell without a listing, and Home Select’s network gives access to them.

Known in French law as the servitude de marchepied, it burdens land along a public lake such as Lake Annecy or Lake Geneva: owners must let walkers and anglers pass along a 3.25-metre strip by the water, and may not fence it off or plant trees within it. It does not create a laid-out path, but it limits the privacy of a lakeside garden. Home Select has it checked before any offer, together with the jetty licence and the Coastal Law.

Yes: many families live all year in the Chamonix valley, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Les Houches, Morzine or the Aravis. Over 12 months to end of June 2026, the median house reached €13,800/m² in Chamonix, against €7,700/m² in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. Choose the sunny side of the valley and a road the town clears of snow rather than a private track, and make sure no easement restricts winter use: Home Select checks all of this before any offer.

Three sets of rules overlap: the local zoning plan, the Coastal Law around lakes larger than 1,000 hectares, such as Lake Annecy and Lake Geneva, and the Mountain Law, which only allows building in continuity with existing villages and hamlets; the two laws can apply within the same town. On top of these comes the risk prevention plan. Home Select has these rules checked before the offer and, where needed, makes the purchase conditional on obtaining a permit.

Yes, without restriction: France requires no authorisation from foreign or non-resident buyers, and the sale is signed before a French notary, in person or by power of attorney. The real questions lie elsewhere: financing in euros or Swiss francs, currency, and the taxation of the property and of inheritance between two countries. Home Select runs the search and the negotiation, and points you to specialists in cross-border law and tax.

First, notary fees of 7 to 8% of the price for an existing property. Then the annual property tax, the residence tax that second homes still pay, heating through a long winter, snow clearance on a private drive and, on the lake, the fee for a jetty or mooring buoy; in a co-ownership or housing estate, add the service charges. Home Select puts these costs together before you offer, so the price hides no surprises.

Yes, because the finest houses, by the lakes as in the valleys, are rarely advertised, and those that are often leave out what matters: a slope in the shade, an impossible commute at rush hour, a jetty without a licence. A buyer’s agent works for you alone, on the buyer’s side, from shortlisting to negotiation. Home Select, a buyer’s agent in Rhône-Alpes, adds its network of 15,000 agents and professional partners and fees due on success only.

Over 12 months to end of June 2026, the median price per square metre of houses in Haute-Savoie ranged from €5,300/m² in Évian-les-Bains to €15,700/m² in Megève. Haute-Savoie: €4,500/m² median for houses, over 4,233 sales (DVF / DGFiP via data.gouv.fr, October 2026 release, 12 months to end of June 2026). Home Select reads these figures street by street before any offer: view, land and condition make most of the price.

The calendar depends on how rare the target property is in {nom} and on your availability: Home Select frames it at the brief, then holds it. Properties are first seen on video, and your decisive viewings are grouped into a single trip.

Through the network and direct approach: Home Select receives more than 100 properties every day from its 15,000 professional partners before they go on sale, and also contacts owners when the setting calls for it. In {nom}, the monitoring starts with two sectors: Megève and Chamonix. That is often where the unfindable property is.

Home Select, a buyer’s agent in Haute-Savoie, charges 2.5% of the net purchase price (minimum €10,000 incl. VAT) on the Exclusive offer, or 1.5% on the Confidential offer for projects of €2m and above, plus 10% of the negotiated reduction in both cases. Home Select is paid on success only, and also on what you save: nothing is due until you have bought.