Buy a mas in Provence

It depends on the life you are after: in the Alpilles, the olive-grove mas at the foot of the ridge; in the Luberon, dry stone, hilltop villages and vines; in the Aix countryside, the bastide and year-round life close to a city; in the upper Arc valley, the wine-growing mas at gentler prices, with a median of €4,200/m² in Trets over the 12 months to end of June 2026. Home Select compares these areas with you before the search begins.

The Alpilles are more compact and closer to Avignon; their mas are split between the plain and the foothills around Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where the median house reached €5,500/m² over the 12 months to end of June 2026. The Luberon is larger, higher and more spread out, from Gordes (€6,600/m²) to southern villages such as Lourmarin. Both markets sell mostly without listings; Home Select searches them side by side, and its page on buying a mas in the Alpilles goes further.

Often, within tight limits. In an agricultural or natural zone of the local plan, no new house can be built, but an existing home can usually take a modest extension and outbuildings, a pool included, within the limits set by the rules. Listed sites, historic monuments, the Alpilles landscape directive and natural risks add their own constraints. Home Select has these rules checked before the offer and, if your plans depend on it, makes the purchase conditional on obtaining the permit.

A secluded mas is rarely on mains drainage: its septic tank or treatment unit is inspected by the local public service for private sanitation. The seller must provide an inspection report less than three years old; if the system is non-compliant, the buyer has to carry out the works within a year of the sale. Home Select reads this report before the offer; have a contractor price the upgrade before you commit.

For the garden, often; for drinking, not without precautions. A domestic well or borehole must be declared to the town hall, and water used for drinking must be tested, especially if the mas is not on the mains supply. Also check the flow at the end of summer, restrictions during droughts and any irrigation rights from a canal. Home Select collects these documents up front.

Near wooded massifs such as the Alpilles, the Luberon or the Sainte-Victoire, owners must clear brush around their buildings, usually over fifty metres and sometimes more under local rules, even onto a neighbour’s land if the zone reaches it. The duty comes back every year, and the owner is liable if it is neglected. Home Select checks the exposure of the mas, the state of the clearance, fire-service access and the risk prevention plan, which can also restrict works.

A mas is a farmhouse: built for working the land, it turns its back on the mistral and grew one building at a time over the generations. The Aix bastide is a gentleman’s country house built for city families, with a symmetrical façade, grounds, an ornamental pool and a plane-tree avenue. Mas dominate in the Alpilles, the Luberon and the plain around Avignon, bastides in the Aix countryside; Home Select searches for both.

Yes, because the finest mas are rarely advertised, and those that are often hide a flaw the listing leaves out: an unauthorised pool or outbuilding, a non-compliant septic system, an undeclared well, farmland let to a tenant, a right of way. A buyer’s agent works for you alone, on the buyer’s side, from shortlisting to negotiation. Home Select, a buyer’s agent in Provence, 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 mas in Provence ranged from €2,500/m² in Avignon to €8,800/m² in Eygalières. Bouches-du-Rhône: €4,100/m² median for mas, over 8,730 sales. Vaucluse: €2,900/m² median for mas, over 4,665 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: Eygalières and Gordes. That is often where the unfindable property is.

Home Select, a buyer’s agent in Provence, 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.