Buy a villa on the French Riviera

The widest views are on the slopes: Super Cannes and La Californie in Cannes, the corniches of Èze and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the heights of Théoule-sur-Mer and Sainte-Maxime, the hills of Gassin and Ramatuelle. The headlands bring the sea closer, at much higher prices. Home Select checks every view from the house itself before putting it to you.

Over 12 months to end of June 2026, houses sold at a median of €5,500/m² in the Alpes-Maritimes and €4,200/m² in the Var. The Alpes-Maritimes offer Nice airport, Monaco, year-round life and world-class headlands; the Var offers more land, sandy beaches and the more seasonal Gulf of Saint-Tropez. The choice depends first on how you will use the villa and how far from the airport you are happy to be.

A little way back from the water. In the Var, Fayence (€4,000/m²) and Fréjus (€4,800/m²) sit well below coastal prices; in the Alpes-Maritimes, Grasse (€4,800/m²) and Vence (€5,400/m²) offer villas with land in the hinterland. If land matters more than the sea, a house on the French Riviera or a villa in Provence widen the field, and Home Select helps you weigh view, land and the sea on foot.

Two summits of the Riviera, two ways of living. Saint-Tropez, where the median house reached €25,000/m² over 12 months to end of June 2026, is a summer destination of beaches and pines; Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, with only 56 sales over the same period, is a discreet peninsula between Nice and Monaco where great estates rarely change hands. In both, the finest villas sell without a listing, and Home Select’s network is what gives access to them.

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, garden and pool upkeep, compulsory brush clearance in wooded areas and insurance; in a gated estate, add the owners’ association charges. Home Select puts these costs together before you offer, so the price hides no surprises.

It depends on the town’s zoning plan, the Coastal Law and often a risk prevention plan. On the coast and in wooded areas, building rights can be very limited, sometimes nil, whatever the size of the plot. Home Select has these rules checked before the offer and, where needed, makes the purchase conditional on obtaining a permit.

In towns exposed to forest fires, which are numerous in the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes, owners must clear brush around their house, usually over fifty metres and sometimes more under local rules, even onto a neighbour’s land if the zone reaches it. Home Select checks the villa’s exposure, the state of the clearance, access for the fire services and the risk prevention plan, which can restrict works.

Yes, because the best villas are rarely advertised, and those that are often hide a flaw the listing leaves out: a partial view, a noisy road, a missing permit, unbuildable land. A buyer’s agent works for you alone, on the buyer’s side, from shortlisting to negotiation. Home Select, a buyer’s agent on the French Riviera, 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 villas on the French Riviera ranged from €4,000/m² in Fayence to €37,400/m² in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Alpes-Maritimes: €5,500/m² median for villas, over 4,000 sales. Var: €4,200/m² median for villas, over 8,948 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: Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Saint-Tropez. That is often where the unfindable property is.

Home Select, a buyer’s agent on the French Riviera, 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.