Although hit by the health and economic crisis that has affected the world since the spring of 2020, Monaco’s real estate market is proving its solidity and attractiveness. However, there has been a slight downturn in the market for new properties.

The annual real estate study published by the Monegasque Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (IMSEE) was eagerly awaited at the beginning of 2021, after several months of global crisis. Based on data from the quarterly Bulletin de l’Economie, this Real Estate Observatory provides an assessment of the past year and the beginning of a forecast for the years to come, even if all the economic results for 2020 are not yet known. What about the Monegasque real estate market? “Despite a summer period that saw a clear upturn in activity and the recovery of most economic indicators (…), the real estate market is also affected by the health crisis and its economic consequences,” says IMSEE in its report, an extract of which we are publishing here.
The real estate sales market is traditionally driven by deliveries. Yet in 2020, only 26 apartments were delivered. As in 2019, it was off-plan sales that accounted for the bulk of transactions (75%). Despite this, the number of sales is still much lower than in the last five years. And the market for real estate resales is also trending downward. The cumulative amount of transactions (sales and resales) is down sharply (-22.3%) and is back to a level comparable to that of 2017. As for the average price per square meter, it is decreasing slightly (-1.1%) and has fallen below €48,000 to exactly €47,619. There is no need to panic as this same average price has risen by +52.3% in ten years!

Contrasting results between new and resale properties

In the new construction sector, the number of sales is determined by apartment deliveries and the marketing of buildings under construction. Over the decade, 487 new apartments were delivered, including only 26 in 2020, which is significantly less than the average. The decline in the number of transactions is much more pronounced for smaller apartments. In fact, in 2019, studios and two-room apartments accounted for two-thirds of the transactions in terms of volume, whereas in 2020 these apartments accounted for just over one-third. The amount of sales is also declining, but less markedly (-32%) than the number of sales (-52%) due to the type of property sold. In fact, fewer studios and two-room apartments were sold, but more three-room apartments. In 2020, transactions under €5 million accounted for only 44% of sales, whereas in 2019 they accounted for 67%, and over 80% in 2017 and 2018. Nearly one in three transactions exceeds ten million euros. This evolution is due to the typology of the properties sold but also to the upmarket nature of the properties offered.
Like the new housing market, the number of resales is down by 7.9%, or 34 fewer sales than in 2019, but remains at a high level, close to 400 transactions. Apart from studios (+7%) and four-room apartments (stable), all other types of apartments have seen their numbers of transactions fall (up to -53% for buildings or villas).

 

Evolution du nombre de reventes par type d’appartement
2019 2020 Evolution
Studio 105 112 +6,7 %
2 pièces 122 119 -2,5 %
3 pièces 97 82 -15,5 %
4 pièces 51 51 0,0 %
5 pièces et + 39 24 -38,5 %
Villas 15 7 -53,3 %
Total 429 395 -7,9 %

Source Direction des services fiscaux / IMSEE

The symbolic 50,000 €/m2 bar

The price per square meter is rising sharply for two-room apartments (+6%). Over ten years, it is the one that shows the strongest increase (+70%). This price is stable (+0.5%) for four-room apartments after the strong increase in 2019 (+16.4%). This is the only type of apartment to exceed €50,000 per square meter. The price per square meter of five rooms and more is also rising (+1.2%) and is approaching €50,000. On average, the price per square meter has increased by more than 52% over the decade.

 

Evolution du prix en €/m2 par type d’appartement
2019 2020 Evolution
Studio 43 022 41 682 -3,1 %
2 pièces 42 972 45 534 +6,0 %
3 pièces 48 041 47 874 -0,3 %
4 pièces 50 512 50 775 0,5 %
5 pièces et + 49 133 49 733 +1,2 %
Total 48 451 47 619 -1,1 %

Source Direction des services fiscaux / IMSEE

Only three districts saw an increase in the number of resales: Monte Carlo, Jardin Exotique and Larvotto. With 136 real estate resales, Monte-Carlo represents more than a third of the transactions (compared to a quarter in 2019). Resales in the Larvotto district have more than doubled, but still remain at a very low level. On the price side, the number of transactions in some neighborhoods is too low to calculate per square meter. This is the case of Monaco-Ville (only one transaction for which the surface area is known in 2020). On the other hand, the seven resales in Larvotto make it possible to calculate it this year: with an average price per square meter of €65,520, it is once again the most expensive neighborhood in Monaco (as in 2017 and 2018). Fontvieille takes second place to Monte Carlo. With Larvotto, these are the three neighborhoods with a price per square meter above €50,000. The lowest price is in Jardin Exotique (€37,500/m²). The drop in the price per square meter in La Condamine in 2020 (-9.3%) brings this neighborhood below the €50,000 mark. Monte-Carlo and Fontvieille are holding up better and remain above €50,000. Despite the drop in the price per square meter in 2020, the Moneghetti is the only district whose price has really doubled in 10 years (+ 115%).

Prix en €/m2 par quartier
2019 2020 Evolution
Larvotto NA 65 520 NA
Fontvieille 52 342 51 872 -0,9 %
Monte-Carlo 53 042 51 617 -2,7 %
La Condamine 52 280 47 421 -9,3 %
La Rousse 42 549 41 890 -1,5 %
Les Moneghetti 45 455 38 253 -15,8 %
Jardin Exotique 35 383 37 500 + 16,0 %
Monaco-Ville NA NA NA

NA = non applicable

Source Direction des services fiscaux / IMSEE

Source : Observatoire de l’Immobilier 2020, janvier 2021, IMSEE