Cheap houses for sale in France

France has more cheap countryside houses than almost anywhere else in Western Europe, and many of them are made of stone. Rural France is full of old farmhouses, hamlet houses and village homes with barns, sold far below the prices of Paris, the Riviera or the Alps. Most of the houses on this page are in the quieter, greener interior, where you get thick walls, exposed beams and a large garden for the price of a small flat in a city.

Our biggest cluster is in Nouvelle-Aquitaine: the Limousin departments of Creuse and Haute-Vienne, plus Charente, Vienne and the Dordogne. There are also houses in Normandy, near the Mont-Saint-Michel, and in Auvergne. Within one region, a fully renovated house with a pool and an old farmhouse with stone barns can sit close together in price, so look at the condition, the roof and the septic system, not just the asking price.

Foreigners can buy property in France on the same terms as French citizens. The sale always goes through a notaire, and the buyer pays notary fees and transfer taxes on top of the price. Our guide to buying a house in France as a foreigner covers the compromis de vente, the 10-day cooling-off period and the costs, with links to service-public.fr. For a regional overview, read where to find cheap countryside houses in France.