According to a study by the SeLoger site published on Friday, the French are mostly reluctant to live in a property with a view of a cemetery. Conversely, some hope to benefit from a significant discount.
Is it financially interesting to buy real estate near a cemetery? The website Housing asked the question to the French (1) and took the opportunity to take stock of the price of housing located in the immediate vicinity of a cemetery.
First lesson, the idea of living in accommodation with a view of the tombs does not please everyone: 54% of French people questioned say they are reluctant to this idea, whether for a property to rent or to buy. Most find the atmosphere sad (41%) and feel anxious at the idea of being close to this symbolism of death (34%). If we take only candidates for purchase, the neighborhood of a cemetery is however more of a deterrent, since 64% of them would give up their project.
Calm and a clear view
On the other side of the spectrum, however, 46% of French people ready to put their suitcases in these accommodations mostly stress the calm (for 53% of them) and a clear view (22%). Finally, 12% hope to benefit from a discount on the purchase price of the property.
Regarding this last point, the study looked at real estate prices near 99 cemeteries in France to compare them to property prices in the rest of the district. And the result is sometimes surprising: Nice, for example, a property near the Eastern Cemetery sells for 51,388 euros per square meter, i.e. 2.5 times more (+143%) than in the rest of the district, where prices are around 2131 euros per square meter. This difference is explained by the location of the cemetery which borders to the south, the popular district of Ariane where prices are among the lowest in the city and to the north, the upmarket towns of Saint-Andr de la Roche and La Trinit where there is no access to the cemetery, explains Heliette Pallas, manager of the Trinimmo agency, at Parisian.
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Conversely, the biggest falls are noted on the Toulouse side (near the Hrdia Cemetery, properties are 2,811 euros per square meter compared to 4,159 euros in the rest of the district) or Montrouge, with prices around 8,352 euros against 10,344 euros in the rest of the district (-19%). But the explanation of these declines would not be sought on the side of the tombstones: Montrouge for example, these are mostly buildings built in 1930 to house the families of career soldiers explains a real estate agent at the Parisian. The quality of the goods therefore varies from one building to another, which may explain the price variations.
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(1) Survey carried out on 1,003 people representative of the French national population aged 18 and over. The survey was carried out online, on the YouGov France proprietary panel on behalf of SeLoger from October 13 to 14, 2022.