Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat Property Prices and Buying Guide

In Q3 2026, CASAFARI Area Insights puts the average asking price of apartments in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat at €16,748.9/m² and of houses at €31,364.3/m² (asking prices from indexed listings, outliers excluded, not transaction prices). Apartment asking prices are up 2.7% year on year, while villas are down 5.6% yet remain 14.9% above early 2023. On a 3 km² peninsula where 64.1% of homes are second residences (INSEE 2023) and new supply is virtually zero, a handful of listings can shift quarterly averages by several percent.

What does property cost in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 2026?

A buyer landing at Nice Côte d'Azur airport can be driven east along the Basse Corniche and stand on the peninsula of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in under half an hour. It is a commune of 3 km² where 1,531 people live year-round and roughly two in three homes sit empty outside the season, according to the INSEE 2023 census. It is also one of the most tightly held residential markets in Europe.

In Q3 2026, CASAFARI Area Insights records an average asking price of €16,748.9/m² for apartments and €31,364.3/m² for houses in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (location ID 493452, queried 23 October 2026). Houses and villas ask 1.87 times—roughly 1.9 times—the apartment price per square metre.

Property segment	Q3 2026 asking price (/m²)	Q3 2025 asking price (/m²)	Year-on-year change	Change since Q1 2023	Distance from 2024 peak
Apartments	€16,748.9	€16,311.9	+2.7% (+€437.0)	+14.1% (+€2,075.0)	−6.1% (peak €17,839.9 in Q3 2024)
Houses and villas	€31,364.3	€33,214.4	−5.6% (−€1,850.1)	+14.9% (+€4,077.7)	−7.8% (peak €34,004.0 in Q2 2024)

To translate those averages into figures a buyer recognises: simple arithmetic on the Q3 2026 average puts a 100 m² apartment in the village at roughly €1.67 million, and a 300 m² villa at roughly €9.41 million before accounting for plot size, sea frontage or architectural pedigree. These are illustrative calculations on an asking-price average, not valuations.

Every price figure from CASAFARI Area Insights represents asking prices taken from indexed property listings with statistical outliers excluded, aggregated into quarterly averages. In a negotiated luxury market, achieved transaction prices shown in notarial deeds typically settle below initial asking levels.

Why is a 3 km² peninsula one of the most expensive addresses in France?

Geography sets the boundary. The peninsula juts into the Mediterranean between the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer to the west and Beaulieu-sur-Mer to the east, served by the main Marseille–Ventimiglia railway line at Beaulieu-sur-Mer station.

Scarcity does the rest. The peninsula is almost entirely built out. French coastal protection law (loi Littoral), the preserved coastal footpath (sentier du littoral) and the commune's local planning rules (Plan Local d'Urbanisme, or PLU) leave almost no scope for greenfield construction. Buying here almost always means acquiring an existing structure to maintain or refurbish under strict architectural oversight.

That fixed stock meets a global buyer pool drawn by a century of reputation. Estates such as the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, the Belle Époque houses hidden behind pine canopies and the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat give the headland an international recognition that underpins resale liquidity.

Unlike purely seasonal resorts, the commune keeps a working village heart. According to INSEE population and housing data for Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat for 2023 (published in 2026), the commune counts 1,531 permanent inhabitants across 742 households, a population density of 617.3 inhabitants per km². The port of Saint-Jean, the village shops and the beaches of Passable and Paloma support year-round life despite the small permanent base.

Are prices still rising? Apartments and villas have parted ways

Since 2024, the two halves of the Cap Ferrat market have moved in opposite directions, even though both sit at virtually the same distance above their early-2023 levels.

Apartment asking prices stood at €16,748.9/m² in Q3 2026, up 2.7% (€437.0/m²) from €16,311.9/m² in Q3 2025, and up 14.1% (€2,075.0/m²) from €14,673.9/m² in Q1 2023 (CASAFARI Area Insights). The apartment series peaked in Q3 2024 at €17,839.9/m² and currently sits 6.1% (€1,091.0/m²) below that high. After dipping from €16,225.4/m² in Q4 2025 to €16,151.8/m² in Q1 2026, apartment asking prices recorded two consecutive quarterly rises, reaching €16,394.4/m² in Q2 2026 and €16,748.9/m² in Q3 2026.

House and villa asking prices moved the other way over the past year. At €31,364.3/m² in Q3 2026, the average asking price for houses is down 5.6% (€1,850.1/m²) compared with €33,214.4/m² in Q3 2025, and sits 7.8% (€2,639.7/m²) below its Q2 2024 peak of €34,004.0/m² (CASAFARI Area Insights). Yet compared with Q1 2023 (€27,286.6/m²), houses remain up 14.9% (+€4,077.7/m²). Since Q1 2025 (€33,276.4/m²), the house series has drifted downwards in a zigzag pattern, with quarter-to-quarter swings of 2% to 8%.

Indexing both series to Q1 2023 = 100 shows how closely their medium-term trajectories align despite the recent divergence. In Q3 2026, apartments stand at an index of 114.1 (having peaked at 121.6 in Q3 2024) and houses stand at 114.9 (having peaked at 124.6 in Q2 2024), according to CASAFARI Area Insights calculations.

Why the split? Apartments in the village and around the port draw a broader buyer pool that includes professionals working in Nice and Monaco, retirees and French second-home owners. The villa series, by contrast, is governed by composition effects: when only a few houses are offered for sale in any given quarter, the addition or withdrawal of two frontline estates is enough to pull the quarterly average up or down by several thousand euros per square metre. In a market of this scale, quarterly figures describe direction, not individual property value.

How does Cap Ferrat compare with the Côte d'Azur and France as a whole?

Cap Ferrat operates without a regional tailwind. According to the official Notaires-Insee house price index for Q2 2026 (provisional data published on 8 September 2026), transaction prices for existing homes in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region rose by just 0.2% year on year (and fell 0.5% quarter on quarter), following a +0.7% year-on-year reading in Q1 2026. Across metropolitan France as a whole, existing-home transaction prices fell by 0.8% year on year in Q2 2026.

Against that flat regional backdrop, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat apartment asking prices (+2.7% year on year in Q3 2026) are modestly ahead of the wider PACA market, while villa asking prices (−5.6% year on year) lag behind it. Keep in mind that the Notaires-Insee series measures completed sales from notarial acts, whereas the CASAFARI series tracks current asking prices on the market. Readers weighing the peninsula against urban and coastal alternatives can compare these figures with our Nice area guide, the France area guide and broader property market trends across Europe.

What separates Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat structurally from mainland cities is its housing composition. Out of 2,153 total dwellings recorded by INSEE in 2023, 64.1% are second homes or occasional dwellings, and only 34.5% are primary residences. The INSEE census dossier for the commune shows how steadily the peninsula has shifted from a lived-in village to a second-home enclave over the past decade:

• 2011 census: 1,098 second homes (53.6% of the stock) and 892 primary residences.
• 2016 census: 1,238 second homes (60.6% of the stock).
• 2022 census: 1,299 second homes (61.9% of the stock), while primary residences fell to 727.
• 2023 data: 64.1% second homes and occasional dwellings out of 2,153 homes.

Because two thirds of owners do not live on the Cap permanently and seldom need to sell for domestic relocation, forced sellers are rare and supply stays tight through down-cycles.

Who buys in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and what are they buying?

Demand on the peninsula is led by international high-net-worth individuals acquiring second homes or long-term capital-preservation assets, alongside a smaller cohort of French buyers and local residents. Buyers and family offices active on the Cap typically come from the United Kingdom, Northern Europe (Scandinavia, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany), the United States and the Middle East, with far fewer Russian buyers active since the introduction of international sanctions. Official nationality shares are not published at commune level.

The stock splits cleanly into two categories:

1. Houses and villas: Belle Époque residences, 1950s and contemporary modernist villas set in landscaped Mediterranean gardens, prized for privacy, sea views and walking access to the water.
2. Apartments: A limited number of flats concentrated in the village centre and overlooking the marina, where most apartment listings sit.

For those examining how investors use CASAFARI data, the investment rationale on Cap Ferrat is wealth preservation through land scarcity rather than rental return. Because the buyer pool is compact and international, geopolitical shifts or tax changes in a single source country can alter demand noticeably from one season to the next.

What does it cost to buy and own here as a non-resident?

France places no nationality-based restrictions on buying residential property. Non-EU and EU non-resident buyers acquire freehold title through the same notarial process (compromis de vente followed by the acte authentique) as French residents. However, four fiscal and regulatory points require attention in 2026:

• Transfer duties (droits de mutation à titre onéreux, or DMTO): When buying an existing property, transfer duties make up the bulk of the acquisition costs paid via the notary. Under the 2025 Finance Act, French départements were permitted to raise their departmental share of DMTO from 4.50% to 5.00% between 2025 and 31 March 2028. While most départements raised their rate to 5.00% (bringing total global transfer duties to about 6.32%), the Alpes-Maritimes voted in its 2025 budget to keep its departmental rate at 4.50%, maintaining a global DMTO rate of about 5.81% as of 1 June 2026, according to transfer-duty rates by département compiled from DGFiP data. On a €10 million villa, that 0.50 percentage-point difference saves €50,000 in tax, though the département retains the option to vote an increase before 31 March 2028. Notary emoluments and agency commissions apply in addition.
• Second-home council tax surcharge (taxe d'habitation sur les résidences secondaires, or THRS): While primary residences no longer pay taxe d'habitation, second homes do, alongside the annual property ownership tax (taxe foncière). Across France, 1,666 communes in tight housing zones (zones tendues) apply a municipal surcharge of between 5% and 60% on the communal share in 2026, and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is on the DGFiP list of communes surcharging second homes in 2026.
• Real estate wealth tax (Impôt sur la Fortune Immobilière, or IFI): Non-residents are liable for IFI on their net taxable real estate located in France whenever its net value exceeds €1,300,000 on 1 January 2026 (Article 964 of the Code général des impôts; see the IFI 2026 threshold and bands). At Q3 2026 average asking prices, virtually every villa and most family apartments on the peninsula fall within scope. Buyers should take independent cross-border tax advice before structuring a purchase.
• Short-term tourist letting (loi Le Meur): Under the loi Le Meur, the government's practical guide to tourist furnished lettings confirms that from May 2026 every furnished tourist let (meublé de tourisme) in every French commune must hold a mandatory 13-character registration number displayed on all advertisements, and owners must inform the building's syndic. Primary residences may be let for at most 120 days a year (which communes may lower to 90 days). Second homes are not subject to the 120-day limit, but buyers must verify local change-of-use (changement d'usage) rules with the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat mairie and check the building's règlement de copropriété.

How to check a price before you make an offer

Because a quarterly average on a 3 km² peninsula blends unrenovated village flats with frontline estates, no buyer or adviser should treat €16,748.9/m² or €31,364.3/m² as a direct valuation for a specific property.

Before submitting an offer, use Comparables and the valuation and market study tools to inspect individual listings on the same street or hillside, see how long each property has been on the market, and track any asking-price reductions across agencies. Combining that street-level view with Area Insights, the series behind every figure in this guide, also lets you compare Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat directly with neighbouring Villefranche-sur-Mer and Beaulieu-sur-Mer to judge whether an asking premium is supported by recent supply.

Wealth managers, buying agents and analysts who want to pull these time series into their own models can query the same dataset through the Area Insights API documentation and the Comparables and valuation API documentation, or create an account on the CASAFARI platform to explore the market directly.