Hérault: French Property Location Guide

You might not know the name Hérault, but you’re sure to recognise Montpellier, the Mediterranean and the stunning, sun-drenched scenery – Annaliza Davis looks at why Hérault is a great pick for househunters

Hérault, in central southern France, enjoys around 300 sunshine days each year, and its landscapes encompass picturesque fields of vineyards and olive trees, sparkling Mediterranean seas and dramatic gorges. In other words, it encapsulates the essence of the south of France. It’s one of the country’s most popular regions for tourists, drawn by the sandy beaches, the glamour of the southern coast or by the rugged natural grandeur of the dramatic gorges and characterful rural villages – that’s without even mentioning the famous Canal du Midi. You can get lost in the bustling streets of Montpellier, explore the great outdoors of the mountain-biking and hiking trails in the gorges, or browse brocantes and markets in quiet cobbled streets. Even the architecture has it all, from tiny dry-stone huts in the corners of vineyards to grand classical structures framed by fountains, and the property market has just as much variety. Whether you want a modest stopover studio flat or a sprawling estate with acres of land, Hérault will have a home to suit you.

According to the national network SeLoger, properties in Hérault cost an average of €3,357/m2, which is around 8% higher than the average property price across France. Whereas houses in France generally offer far better value than apartments (€2,531/m2 compared to €3,870/m2), in Hérault they are almost equal at €3,364m2 and €3,351m2

On the Mediterranean coast, you’ll pay a premium of 60% or more, with homes in Palavas-les-Flots fetching €5,576/m2 although other resorts such as Agde and Sète are more reasonable at €3,700/m2. For the best prices in the region, look to the east around St-Pons-de-Thomières where properties sell for around €1,500/m2. This means that a 50m2 apartment in Hérault could cost anywhere from €75,000 to €280,000 depending on the location.

St-Guilhem-le-Désert is a medieval village located 45 minutes northwest of Montpellier. An official Plus Beau Village, it attracts about 700,000 visitors a year, many of whom come for the Unesco-listed Abbaye de Gellone, one of the steps on the Compostela pilgrimage trail. The winding streets are lined with craft workshops and boutiques, beckoning you to explore, and you can pause in the shade of a 160-year-old plane tree in the central square. Stay longer to make the most of the incredible surroundings, and cross the ancient Pont du Diable to explore the underground wonders of the Grotte de Clamouse.

If you’re looking for city life, Montpellier tops the list: it’s a large, cosmopolitan hub that is easily accessible by train in three-and-a-half hours from Paris or Barcelona, and just 11km from the Mediterranean. Montpellier is bursting with heritage from all eras, including a university founded in the 1200s, while its grand citadel is now home to students of the Lycée Joffre.

Of the city’s 550,000 residents, 66% are rental tenants and around 17% are students, making it an ideal place to invest in rental accommodation. An overwhelming 87% of city properties are apartments. A €50,000 investment in a 20m2 studio should bring a rental income of around €350 a month and there is often a shortage of rental options available, as Montpellier attracts around 8,000 new residents every year.

For a smaller historic town, Béziers (population 81,000), on the River Orb, offers both wide pedestrian boulevards and smaller medieval streets as well as some of the best value in terms of price per square metre. Over 55% of residents are rental tenants, and the average sale price of €1,973/m2 means you can buy a 20m2 studio for under €30,000 and rent it out for €300 a month. Béziers is accessible, with 10 daily rail services to Paris (four hours) boosting its ranking for holiday lets.

Inland, but still close to the coast, Pézenas is also popular, with charming historic streets, a theatrical heritage, enormous antiques fair and all amenities. The average price here is €2,736/m2. In the heart of the town, a three-bedroom house is for sale at €299,000, while a one-bedroom duplex apartment is on the market for €82,000.

“To maximise your budget, Béziers offers excellent value”

Another great tourist draw is St-Guilhem-le-Désert, a gorgeous medieval village northwest of Montpellier (see box-out on p25). Properties rarely come onto the market here, but a small townhouse with a courtyard would cost around €200,000, a character three-bedroom home in the region of €350,000 and a larger, modern property with B&B potential about €500,000.

For seaside living, try La Grande-Motte, a popular resort near Montpellier that sprang up in the 1960s and 1970s and features recognisable pyramid-shaped hotel buildings. There’s every type of holiday accommodation here, and you could buy your own 18m2 studio for around €80,000 or €100,000 in a complex with a swimming pool. In the slightly more upmarket, but older, resort of Palavas-les-Flots you’ll look a little harder and pay a little more, but you can still find a studio for around €110,000 – sometimes with a seaview balcony.

Alternatively, head to Sète, where you can enjoy the Mediterranean and the freshwater Étang de Thau lagoon, known for its fishing villages and oyster farms. Prices can rise to more than €5,000/m2 in the ‘Pierres Blanches’ neighbourhood, but you can buy a studio flat for €70,000 with a strong market for holiday lets.

To maximise your budget, Béziers offers excellent value with a choice of apartments around €30,000 and small properties on a holiday complex for about €110,000. For larger homes, look in northern Hérault, in the Regional Natural Park between Bédarieux and Mazamet, where you can buy stone properties to renovate for as little as €28,000.

This is also the best area to focus on if you’re hoping to build your own home, as you’ll find more plots here. A €50,000 budget would buy you 2,449m2 of terrain constructible (land that is permitted to be built on) in Lamalou-les-Bains or 1,000m2 in St-Julien, but only 85m2 in Vendémian closer to the coast.

James Judd runs a B&B in Hérault and uses his skills as a chef to offer delicious evening meals.

“The choice of produce in Hérault is amazing, it’s great for traditional French cuisine, as well as dishes with Spanish and Moroccan influences. At the weekly markets, you can find a rabbit or whole chicken, nothing like what you might find in an English supermarket. As for local wine, Picpoul white or rosé is ideal for sipping in the summer sunshine, while red wines tend to be stronger and heavier. At our nearby cave cooperative, take a plastic drum and you can get an amazing rosé for €7.50 for five litres – an absolute bargain!”

Also look out for Pélardon goat’s cheese, which was selected to be served at a state banquet in Versailles for King Charles III, hosted by President Macron, and if you have a sweet tooth, the tartelettes aux noix (walnut tartlets) drenched in caramel are dangerously moreish.

Photographer Steve Turnbull moved from the UK to Hérault more than 10 years ago, with his French wife, who was originally from Paris. “We live in the charming market town of Lodève, near the Lac du Salagou and I make my living as a writer and photographer. This area is the ‘gateway to the Mediterranean’, and what I love most is the landscape. It’s remarkably varied, from deep dramatic gorges and vast limestone plateaux to lush forests and majestic mountains. In the summer, the Haut-Languedoc Regional Natural Park is covered in purple heather and bathed in sunshine. “There’s so much on the doorstep and beyond, with Spain only a couple of hours’ drive away, so we never tire of Hérault and I would recommend it to anyone.”

Property Types

Mas

A ‘mas’ is often a former farmhouse, so you can expect lots of land and outbuildings. The property itself is usually a two-storey stone building, a solid square or rectangular structure that can be very rustic or more refined. You can get an extensive mas with open views and several acres for €700,000, while more upmarket versions can sell for more than €2m.

Vineyard

This is wine country, so you’ll often see ‘viticole’ properties featuring a winemaker’s home among fields of vines, with outbuildings for processing the grapes into wine. A €1m budget will buy a period property bursting with character features and acres of working vines, or look for a ‘maison de bordier’, a former vineyard-worker’s home, which you can buy for around €350,000 complete with 1.5 acres to plant your own vineyard.

Maison de maître

These manor-like properties are often part of a vineyard or working estate, but you can also find them in towns or villages. Typically dating from 1850 to 1880, they are often symmetrical, featuring delightful architectural details such as sweeping staircases. A €595,000 budget buys a six-bedroom, fully renovated ‘maison de maitre’ complete with pool, but you can find some for €250,000 if you’re happy to update them.

Business investment

As this is a tourist destination, you might like to invest in an existing business, such as a 350m2 five-bedroom guest house with an annual turnover exceeding €60,000 in a tourist village near Clermont-l’Hérault for €425,000. For €850,000, consider a holiday complex with three gîtes, leisure facilities, a pool, an acre of land plus a fi ve-bedroom family home.

Village house

This area has a plentiful supply of charming villages, many featuring on the list of France’s Plus Beaux Villages (including Minerve, Olargues and St-Guilhem-le–Désert), while others such as Capestang sit on the Unesco–listed Canal du Midi. Renovation projects start at €35,000, while move-in-ready village homes with small garden start at €80,000, depending on location.

Apartment on the Med

It’s possible to find a 20m2 studio in Cap d’Agde with a harbour view for €75,000, or a one–bedroom apartment with full sea view for €140,000, while a 138m2 modern apartment with sea views and balconies will fetch over €1m: something for every budget!

EMPLOYMENT AND THE ECONOMY

Hérault’s is a service economy: 73% of jobs are involved in the production of goods and services and focused in Montpellier and the main urban centres. Tourism accounts for 9% of Hérault’s economy, and much work is seasonal: 49% of overnight stays happen in summer, 25% in spring, 15% in autumn and 11% in winter. An impressive 45% of visitors head to the 90km stretch of coastline and 42% to the area just behind, so that’s where you should focus if you want to set up a tourism business in the department. Unemployment is at 28% among 15 to 24-year-olds, but drops to 12.6% for those aged 25 to 64, higher than the national average of 7.7%. Of those employed, there’s a fairly even split between employees (27%), middle management (28%) and upper management (20%). Only 15% are manual workers.

TRANSPORT

Hérault’s transport links make it a very accessible place to get to from the UK and further afield. Montpellier airport is a 10-minute drive from the centre and is currently home to 13 different airlines connecting across Europe and beyond, and welcoming 1.8 million passengers a year. There is also an airport in Béziers, although this is much smaller (260,000 passengers a year) and connects to only eight destinations. Rail links are excellent with up to 10 connections per day taking you to the country’s capital in four hours or even less. By road, Montpellier is just three-and-a-half hours from Barcelona, four hours from Italy, and roughly eight hours from Paris. If you’re travelling by ferry, the drive south will take you around nine hours from Caen and perhaps 11 hours from Calais.

Local property agent Freddy Rueda runs Real Estate Occitanie and has worked in the region’s property market since 1995.

WHAT THE AGENTS SAY…

“For a couple of years buyers were holding back on buying property, but that seems to be changing. We’re noticing more interest from Americans and Scandinavians as well as British buyers, and there’s been a rise in people wanting to buy mortgage-free, with only around 20% needing a loan. “Many are still drawn to the key tourist areas, but if you head inland from Béziers there are beautiful towns and villages that are not yet well known, especially Pézenas and St-Chinian, for example. You can get excellent value for money in Hérault, particularly in the villages around Béziers, where you can buy a single-storey villa with a gîte, pretty garden and swimming pool for under €250,000.”

realestateoccitanie.com

Lead photo credit : © SHUTTERSTOCK