The sale of apartments in the 52-hectare Paris Olympic village is continuing, with prices remaining high. France’s largest construction firms were involved in the building of the village, and each is counting on the sale of the flats to ensure the operation is profitable.
Eyebrows were raised when the location of the Olympic village was announced, on a derelict industrial site on the border between the communes of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Saint Denis and Ile-Saint-Denis in Seine-Saint-Denis, which is one of the poorest departments in France.
In theory, the development in the northern Paris suburb should provide an uplift for the area. Overall, there are 12 residential buildings and one office block in the Olympic village, with sizes varying between six and 10 storeys.
The government set aside around 20% of the flats for social housing, and also imposed quotas for student accommodation. Some of the flats are also reserved for buyers able to get a bail réel solidaire, where people on lower incomes can buy the flats due to a leasehold property deal where the municipality purchases the ground rent.
Property around Paris is expensive, and advertised prices for the flats average €7,000 per m². A large, three-bedroom apartment of 100m² is around €700,000, while a small 20m² studio flat will set buyers back around €140,000.
One of the larger developers, Icade, has put 140 flats on the market so far in three buildings, two of which are on the banks of the Seine. By mid-July, it had sold or had firm reservations on around 50.
The first buyers will be able to move in at the end of 2025, after conversion work has been completed.” Work includes removing temporary walls put in to divide the spaces into individual rooms for athletes, removing the temporary bathrooms and toilets for athletes, and lifting all the temporary carpeting put down for the Olympic Games period.
