The prestigious and cooly analytical Financial Times has taken a look at the Monaco real estate market through the prism of the Portier sea extension, now more frequently called Mareterra.
The verdict is that the 100,000 euros per square metre likely asking price for the 125 new apartments is a realistic sum, given the Principality’s unique advantages, which according to Knight Frank would be nearly double the average prime Monaco home price of €54,846 per square metre.
“But it is a difficult moment to be asking buyers to pay twice the going rate for a top-end Monaco home, the FT said. “The pandemic’s travel restrictions, lockdowns and working and schooling from home have tarnished the appeal of Monaco’s densely packed apartment living.”
Yacht charters in Monaco are down by 50 percent, the FT tells its readers.
Irene Luke, who heads the Monaco office of Savills, points out that rents fell 23 percent last year to 89 euros per square metre per month.
According to the Government, resales fell, from 429 to 395 in 2020 compared to 2019, but given the virtual impossibility of live viewing during much of the period, the figure looks remarkably healthy.
Meanwhile, Monaco residents seeking more space are increasingly looking to properties in France.
However, the Principality’s enduring cachet and the approaching end of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to mean that Mareterra’s properties will be sold without any glitches, especially since the supply of new properties has been constrained in recent years.
PHOTO: Rising from the sea and taking shape, the Mareterra quarter Jack Brodie
