“Dis Oui” to Dinan and Au Revoir to Diana

It’s highly unusual for an American to purchase property in France that is not within the areas of Paris, Provence or the Riviera…but every now and then some bold individual is ready, willing and able to test the waters living in “La France Profonde.” We’ve had several clients lately who are pushing the boundaries by moving lock, stock and barrel to more remote and sometimes rural areas of France, most of which have been single women of a certain age who are more than ready for a real adventure!

Tuesday I had the pleasure of assisting one such American, a long-time resident of Australia, in purchasing a home in the Brittany town of Dinan, a port and walled city in the Côtes-d’Armor department in northwestern France. It was easily accessible by train and/or bus via the city of Rennes.

The port of Dinan sits on the River Rance joined to the walled portion of the city by the steep street of Jerzual which then continues outside the walls to become Rue de Petit Fort. Her new home is just outside of the old town, but within the confines of the town — about a 10-minute walk from the center. It is here we found a spacious home with a large garden built in 1952 impeccably maintained by a retired couple that fit her needs to a tee.

The town of Dinan is a medieval enclave with a population of about 11,000 situated south of St. Malo on a hilltop with buildings that date back to the 13th-century. There are many historic attractions for the idle visitor including what is called “the flamboyant Gothic St. Malo Church” well-known for its stained-glass windows which date from the beginning of the 20th-century and its English organ of polychromatic pipes made by Oldknow in 1889. One of its entrances is made of wooden doors with an inscription in Hebrew. (It is surprising that I haven’t been able to find anything online about the inscription, but have requested a translation from my Hebrew-speaking friends.) Another attraction is the Jacobins Theatre dating from 1224 on Rue de l’Horloge. The town was awash with tourists and locals at the end of this summer season.

The real estate market is quite active and in fact, 2016 was an exceptional year for mortgage interest rates and therefore increased the purchasing power. Prices remained stable. The average price per square meter is about 1,680€ for apartments and from 1,580€ to 1,833€ for homes. Areas around Dinan, such as Lanvallay and Taden, the average price per square meter is about 1,606€. Compare this with Paris prices at 10,000€ + per square meter and one can see how inexpensively a home in Dinan or surrounding area can be very affordable. This particular home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living-dining, eat-in kitchen, basement and garden was above average at about 3,500€ per square meter for all the right reasons — still very affordable.

Dinan is just one of the hundreds of thousands of potential spots on the France landscape in which one can live well on a a retiree’s budget. To learn more about Dinan, as a tourist, visit the town’s website. To learn more about purchasing a home in Brittany or anywhere in France, contact US: [email protected] .

A bientôt,

Adrian Leeds
The Adrian Leeds Group

(in Dinan)

Respond to Adrian:

[email protected]

P.S. Today marks the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death here in Paris. I think it somehow apropos that “Dinan” and “Diana” are one letter apart and would like to remember her with great fondness and admiration. Au revoir, Lady Di. This beautiful photo of her was provided to us and taken personally by our illustrious photographer friend, Harry Hamburg.