Where to buy in Avignon: the districts

North of the palace, Banasterie and the Rocher des Doms form the top of the Avignon market: hôtels particuliers with a courtyard and a grand staircase, houses of character, the view over the Rhône from the heights. The product is rare and protected; it passes within a small circle of families and professionals, without ever being listed. The buyer: the lover of old stone, a Parisian or Lyonnais who came by TGV for a second home actually lived in, a Belgian, Swiss or American won over by Provence without the isolation. The budget: the highest in the city.

Joseph-Vernet and Les Halles are Avignon’s deep urban market, in strong demand all year round: quality old buildings, dual-aspect apartments, theatres and restaurants on foot. The buyer: the family settling in, the active retiree, the owner of a pied-à-terre within walking distance of the stages. The budget: wide, from the pied-à-terre to the apartment of character, below the hôtels particuliers of the north. In both districts, residents’ parking is the subject everyone discovers too late.

Villeneuve-lès-Avignon is the other bank of the Rhône, the town of the cardinals: the charterhouse, the fort Saint-André, and mansions with gardens along quiet streets, ten minutes from the palace. The product: the family house with a garden and a garage, the residence of character. The buyer: the family settling in all year round, the Parisian who wants the city of the popes without its constraints. The traps: the condition of old buildings and, near the banks, the Rhône flood risk prevention plan. The budget: gentler than the intra-muros, with the garden.

The Île de la Barthelasse, facing the ramparts, is a market apart: the largest river island in France, a few large properties in the calm with the Rhône on both sides, five minutes from the city centre. The product: the country house or the large property with land, rarely advertised. The buyer: someone who wants the countryside at the gates of the city. The trap, single and decisive: the flood zone. Consult the risk prevention plan before any preliminary contract; it governs extensions, insurance and the use of the lower floors. The budget follows the property and its land more than the square metre.

The ring of the Grand Avignon starts at Les Angles and Sauveterre, with Villeneuve as the gateway, then climbs towards the villages of the Alpilles and the Luberon. The product: the mas and the bastide with land, a Provençal countryside market at the gates of the city of the popes. The buyer: someone hesitating between the stone of the city and the countryside; families, for the garden and the garage; international buyers, for Provence without the isolation.

The traps are those of the countryside: non-mains drainage, inspected by the SPANC, compulsory brush clearance over fifty metres around buildings in exposed areas, and the condition of rural buildings whose roof and structure are costed before the offer. The budget: very open, from the village to the bastide. Home Select hunts the villages together with the intra-muros and Villeneuve in a single search, remotely: a brief by video call, qualification on documents, video pre-viewings with the seller’s agent, then a single trip for the decisive viewings.