Mougins, the meaning of prestige
Just 10 minutes out of Cannes, Mougins has city life nearby and a pastoral atmosphere all around. At 850 feet above sea-level, this village of 16,000 souls is surrounded by pine, cypress and olive trees and is home to two golf courses, about forty restaurants and any number of art galleries.
Mougins has always been very closely linked to the world of art. Jean Cocteau, Winston Churchill, Paul Eluard, Fernand Léger, Christian Dior, Catherine Deneuve, Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Picabia and Man Ray were under its spell and Picasso spent his last days here. Some 6 km in from the coast, the rural area is a 15 minute drive from Grasse and home to 18 % of Sophia Antipolis, Europe’s biggest business park with some 1,276 companies. The forest area of La Valmasque (1,050 acres) is also a part of its territory, and the international airport of Nice Côte d’Azur is about 30 minutes away. This lush green commune is also home to the Mougins School, an establishment that is very highly rated by foreign residents. “Demand is still extremely sustained for top-end property,” observed Christian-Alexander Rosengart from the agency Bienvenue.fr. In the so-called “professionally-active segment”, (translating to villas in the Cabrières quarter selling at between 450,000 and 850,000 €), buyers visit a lot of properties, compare and take their time to think things over. There is a shortfall of quality products and prices are no longer soaring. Although less volatile than in the past, this section of the market is still dynamic. In equally short supply is property starting at 850,000 € of interest to rational buyers who know the reality of the Mougins market. Here is the place for charming Provence-style villas. While there is a real market opportunity, supply for contemporary architecture property is still low. People looking for sumptuous properties naturally head for Notre-Dame-de-Vie, also known as the Quartier de l’Etang, in demand partly for the enclosed estate of La Chapelle. They appreciate Les Colles and Pigranel, the sea-views and the old village, Le Redon and its extensive grounds - a rare commodity on the French Riviera - and the Hameau du Guillet, a quiet spot surrounded by pine trees just behind Cannes. The Domaine de La Peyrière offers houses selling at an average of 1 to 2 million €, while Les Parcs de Mougins, with enclosure and 24/7 surveillance, is in the 2 to 5 million € range. Pibonson to the west also boasts some magnificent properties, including some older “mas”. Saint-Barthélémy, where the built-up area is more thinly spread, overlooks the bay of La Napoule. Accessibility to the village on foot makes it a popular market. This advantage is shared by the boulevard Courteline, with deep blue panoramas to boot, two qualities almost enough to make you forget the noise from the urban parkway. The price range here is between 5 and 10 million €. A house of some 880 m2, with an added chapel and artist’s studio, will currently sell at 18 million € . There is only a limited choice of apartment accommodation in Tournamy and Mougins-le- Haut. For an apartment, locals are ready to part with 4,000 to 5,000 € per square metre. Didier Sinclair from the Michaël Zingraf agency spells it out : “85-90 % of our buyers are positioned on second home products fetching 1.5 million € and more. For this, they get a four-room villa with 2,000 m2 of land plus a little refurbishing work in prospect. Despite the size of the investment, there is no guarantee of total tranquillity. Calm surroundings come with a high price tag, as does a sea-view.” The only setback in opting for Mougins is the noise. Right now they are re-surfacing the urban parkway to reduce tyre noise. Of the buyers most into back-country holiday homes, 30 % are British, followed by North Europeans, a few rare Americans and Russians, who agree to settle inland from the coast. They sometimes criticize the shortage of local shops and traders but are delighted to find themselves with more land and an extra bedroom compared with what they would end up with in Cannes for the same price. “As far as village houses are concerned, the surprise only ends when stepping inside the hallway,” he said amusedly. Whenever a property has outside amenities, the price soars. A property of 270 m2 with a self-contained bed-sit, a garage, an attic with room for development and a roof sundeck giving onto the sea and mountains will fetch 3.1 million €. A sun-lit 2-room apartment with a view over the Esterel hills could leave the agency for 430,000 €. Last year, an English buyer purchased three buildings in the village which he intended to refurbish. These foreign customers with high spending power make an active contribution to maintaining our heritage. “Of course, plots are smaller here than in the region of Grasse, but you are just a few minutes drive away from La Croisette,” said Jeroen Zaat from Riviera Home Finders. For this specialist in luxury properties, prestige homes sell anywhere from 2 to 15 million €. “People who love Mougins wouldn’t move away for anything in the world, not even to a neighbouring commune,” he said. Golfers who are members at the Royal Golf Mougins or the Golf Country Club de Cannes Mougins regularly buy homes close to the course. For a two-room home alongside Royal Golf Mougins plus part-membership, we are talking about a minimum of 600,000 €. A pretty villa of 200 m2 will fetch 3.5 million €. This sector is buzzing, particularly with the Dutch, and there is no such equivalent at Cannes Mougins. All properties combined, this chic outpost of Cannes really does have gilt-edged value. Besides the sheer pleasure of living here, it also promises high return on investment.
