Where to buy a house on a small budget when you want to live in the city? This medium-sized French commune is doing well.
Buying a house on a small budget is becoming more and more complicated. In many cities in France, an envelope of 120,000 euros barely allows you to target a small apartment or property to renovate. Fortunately, there are still a few places where a detached house remains accessible. This is what the latest report from the Notaries of France reveals, established on all sales made in France until December 31, 2025. Among the cities studied, one of them clearly stands out from the crowd.
For a first-time buyer, this can be an opportunity to buy a property without having to go into debt for more than 20 or 25 years. For a family, it is also the possibility of targeting space, several bedrooms, a garden or even a garage. Finally, for an investor, it is a much more interesting entry ticket than in large cities… Because this municipality which stands out is part of what we call “medium-sized towns”, that is to say they have a population of between 20,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. In fact, this city had 43,000 inhabitants during the last census. Enough to not live isolated without public services, without cultural activities or any possibility of finding a job.
One of its strong points? Its accessibility. Its station is served by the Intercités lines linking Paris, Limoges and Toulouse in particular, as well as by the TER Centre-Val de Loire. Furthermore, thanks to Bus Horizon, the bus service has been free for more than twenty years now in the city and its metropolis! We are talking here about the town of Châteauroux, in the department of Indre.
According to figures from the Notaries of France, the five cheapest areas for purchasing old houses place the town of Châteauroux in the lead with an average price of 118,100 euros, ahead of Amiens (169,700 euros), Limoges (171,100 euros), Poitiers (175,500 euros) and Troyes (177,100 euros). Indeed, we are talking here about old houses because it is these properties which serve as a reference in the statistics, new houses being fewer in number and analyzed separately. For example, we see among our colleagues in the Figaro Immobilier that there are, to date, no less than 15 offers of houses for less than 120,000 euros in Châteauroux. Some properties even exceed 100 m² of living space.
Note that the city has large green spaces, including Belle-Isle Park, cultural facilities such as Équinoxe, a national stage, and several locally recognized sports infrastructures (such as the National Sports Shooting Center, which hosted the Paris 2024 Olympic Games).
