French Riviera Boom

Some interesting shifts are playing out across the world’s top luxury property markets in 2024. While billionaires have reportedly been spending less and buying smaller homes in PCL, other wealth centres – including Dubai, Miami and the French Riviera – have been booming.

Fresh analysis of the French Riviera market has revealed €15mn-plus values have surged by 15-20% since 2019, outperforming the very top-end of the PCL market (up 13% over the same period).

The survey of the glitzy swathe between St Tropez and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat – including the resorts of Cannes, Mougins, Cap d’Antibes, Cap-d’Ail and Beaulieu-sur-Mer – found that ultra-prime properties can command up to €500mn (£430mn).

The average price of a large oceanfront residence has risen to £20.4mn (€24mn), higher than an equivalent villa in London’s St John’s Wood (£15.4mn) or a townhouse in Mayfair (£18.8mn), said Beauchamp Estates, which commissioned the research.

70% of super-prime buyers in the French Riviera market are international “The Covid-19 pandemic was a game-changer for the global super-rich, educating them that they can work anywhere in the world and that a good lifestyle in a sunny warm climate has health benefits,” said the firm’s Adrien Willing-Lamy. “Sunny wealth hubs such as the French Riviera, Dubai and Miami are increasingly places where the global super rich choose to live.”

It’s noted that 70% of super-prime buyers on the French Riviera are international, led by those from the USA, India, the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) and Middle East (particularly the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar).

Middle Eastern buyers are typically younger (in their late 20s to early 40s), said Beauchamp, and represent the “next generation” of the Gulf elite. “Turn-key” homes close to the sea are in highest demand, near the larger homes of their elder family members, many of whom have owned property along the French Riviera since the oil-price boom of the 1970s. Meanwhile, American buyers tend to be most attracted to the most famous resorts, typically opting for St Tropez and Cap Ferrat.

Other key overseas buyer groups include those from the UK, Switzerland and the Benelux countries.

The majority of the purchases (around 60%) tend to be villas or grand houses, said the agency – the most sought-after being those with a minimum of five ensuite bedrooms, a garden, garaging, a swimming pool and ideally sea or water views. Other popular features include home cinemas, spas, wine cellars and staff quarters.

Cap Ferrat has “firmly established” itself as the French Riviera’s leading ultra-prime market, according to the report, although most of the top-end sales occur behind closed doors.

It’s estimated that over 70,000 homes along the French Riviera are now owned by overseas second-home buyers.

After plummeting during the pandemic, stock levels have begun to rise again over the last 12 months, said the firm, and there’s also been a change in the traditional seasonality of the local property market since emerging from lockdown: “[Covid-19] forced clients to adapt and learn to work remotely from anywhere in the world and operate their business interests from home or the office. As a result of this transformation clients looking at buying or renting luxury homes on the French Riviera are increasingly looking at having second homes rather than purely summer vacation homes, where they can work remotely, whilst enjoying a change of scene and sunshine lifestyle. This has led locations including Cannes, Mougins and Cap d’Antibes to increasingly become year-around resorts, with festivals and evenings acting as a strong draw outside of the summer months.