The market
Real sale prices in France: how to read the DVF data.
In France, the prices actually paid for homes are public. Few countries offer that. Here is how to use it, and its limits.
Contents
A listing tells you what a seller hopes for. A notarised deed tells you what a buyer paid. Between the two, the gap can be large, and the notaries found that non-resident buyers paid on average more than residents. The official DVF data is the simplest way to avoid that.
What DVF is
DVF, for demandes de valeurs foncières, is the database of property sales published by the French tax administration from the notarised deeds. For each sale you find the date, the price, the type of property, the commune and the plot, and often the floor area and the number of rooms. It covers the last five years, with a delay of a few months. You can explore it on the official DVF map.
How to use it
- Find the sales in the same street or the same few streets, over the last two years.
- Keep comparable properties only: same type, similar size, house with or without land.
- Look at the price per square metre, and set aside the oddities: a sale between relatives, a house sold with several hectares, a flat sold with a shop.
- Compare with the asking price of the property you like, and ask why it is higher or lower.
The limits
- DVF does not say anything about the condition, the view, the floor or the works needed.
- The most recent months are missing.
- In a small village, there may be only a handful of sales a year.
- Alsace, the Moselle and Mayotte are not covered, as their land registry works differently.
My price pages
I publish the medians of the real sales, commune by commune, with the method and the period: Dijon, Beaune, Gevrey-Chambertin, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Meursault and the whole Côte-d'Or (in French, the figures speak for themselves).
Using it in a negotiation
An offer backed by real sales is taken seriously by a seller, because it is not an opinion. For each property my buyers like, I prepare that comparison: the sales around it, what they had and did not have, and the price that makes sense. See also how to make an offer.
Frequently asked questions
Is the DVF data reliable?
It comes from the notarised deeds, so the prices are real. It does not describe the condition of the property, which is why it has to be read with care.
How recent is the DVF data?
It is published with a delay of a few months and covers the last five years.
Does DVF cover the whole of France?
No: Alsace, the Moselle and Mayotte are not included.
Can you give me the real prices around a specific property?
Yes. Send me the listing and I will tell you what the comparable sales around it fetched.