The Auvergne is located in the centre of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It contains four departments - Allier, Cantal, Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme. It's capital is Clermont-Ferrand.

Geographically, Auvergne is marked by volcanic mountain ranges and an expanse of relatively flat land. The Massif Central dominates the western half of the area, while to the high altitudes of the Alps dominate the east. Between the two, the Rhône valley flows through a broad ​​plain.

In a recent review of the housing market to March 2024, the notaires reported a general fall in prices over the year, although with a more significant fall in the volume of sales.

In the Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire and Cantal sales fell by around a quarter, and by -16% in Allier.

On a regional level house prices fell by -3.4%, but there was a more modest fall in apartment prices (-0.5%).

Within the 4 departments of the Auvergne the picture was a contrasting one. Whilst house prices in Cantal fell by -5.8%, in the Haute-Loire they rose by +4.6%.

The graphic below shows the movement in regional and departmental prices for houses and apartments over the last 1, 5 and 10 years respectively.

As can be seen, prices in Auvergne are well below the regional average, with lowest average house prices in the department of Allier (€101,000).

Over the long term prices have remained relatively stable, in contrast to those in the region, driven in large part by prices rises in the Rhône department.

However, even the departmental averages disguise significant differences within each department, as can be seen from the graphic below.

The largest fall in prices over the year occurred in the Sologne Bourbonnaise area of north Allier (-8.3%), whilst lowest average prices are in the mountainous south-east of the department, in Montagne Bourbonnaise (€70,700).