FNAIM notes there are 520 municipalities with a coastline, and in them nearly half of the homes are secondary residences. One third of all second homes in France are located in a coastal area.

Three seaside resorts on the Côte d'Azur are where average real estate prices are the highest in France.

At €16,083 per square metre, Ramatuelle (Var) on the Saint-Tropez peninsula, is the most expensive. This is followed by Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (Alpes-Maritimes) at €15,819 in the and Saint-Tropez (Var) at €14,400.

On the Atlantic coast, the most expensive commune is Lège-Cap-Ferret (€11,676m²), followed by Soorts-Hossegor (€9,132) and Les Portes-en-Ré (€8,088), while on the Channel coast, the most expensive are Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (€8,496) and Deauville (€6,296).

In all 520 seaside resorts studied by FNAIM, the average price per square metre is €4,514, compared to €2,933 for the whole of France. Prices have fallen over the past year, by -2.7%, but less than the national fall in prices (-3.9%).

Over the past ten years, real estate in seaside resorts has risen significantly more than the national average, a difference almost exclusively due to the 2020-2023 period marked by the desire for open space after the lockdowns.

The highest average prices are in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (€5,820 per square metre, +0.3% year-on-year) and Nouvelle-Aquitaine (€5,044, -6.3%), while the lowest are in Normandy (€3,394, -4.5%) and Brittany (€3,538, -1.9%).

Real estate in seaside resorts threatened by coastal erosion has lost more value than others over the past year, but it is too early to say whether this loss in value is linked to this risk or not, says FNAIM. This is especially since in previous years, the municipalities at risk, most of which are located in Brittany and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, had seen their prices increase more than the others.

In a separate study of the top end of the market for second homes (€1m+) by Sotheby’s International Realty, the authors report that the market has been less affected by the downturn in the general market.

They attribute the stability of this market to the fact that buyers of second homes are less affected by the rise in interest rates than buyers of primary residences.

They also consider that the distinction between principal residences and second homes is becoming increasingly blurred, as an increasing number of buyers are using their second home on a regular basis from where they work on-line.