Saint-Malo “combines the advantages of both a tourist centre and a business hub,” notes Jean-Claude Vaudelet of Cézembre Immobilier. With its centuries of history and 150,000 inhabitants, the city features a diversified population, including a number of highly privileged enclaves such as Rothéneuf, the preserve of the local grandee families.

“Prices are rising a little but purchasers are far more careful with their money and there are more properties on the market”, notes Jean-Claude Vaudelet. “Sea views” are as rare as they are sought after, and depending on the expert in question, can sell for “irrational amounts of money“ which easily exceed €7,000 a sq. m..

Dinard, on the other hand, is a comfortable middle-class sort of place where families have been faithful for generations to a resort which today has 407 listed villas. “Descendants of some of the Dinard dynasties whose parents or grand-parents had sold their properties, are now coming back to buy up houses here,” says Yves de Sagazan.

To purchase an “archetypal family house with blue shutters, 5-6 bedrooms and a garden,“you need a budget of €1.3 to 2.5 million, and far more for truly outstanding properties. But “you can hardly find any sea views any more,” regrets Yves de Sagazan.