Bidding fails to take off for building in Caen listed as Monument historique

The auction for Maison des Quatrans, a half-timbered house in Caen (Calvados) listed as a Monument historique, opened at 14:00 on February 17. The Normandy Region, its owner, had listed it at a starting price of €810,000. Frédéric Ollivier, the Normandy Region’s general manager, had hoped to get €900,000 for it.

One buyer placed a bid immediately.

Fifty hours later, on February 19, at 16:00 when the auction closed, he was still the only one.

“We expected that auction to be difficult,” said Mr Ollivier, having disregarded the suggestion from two regional councillors to exercise the right of pre-emption on the building.

The Normandy Region was its last occupant, having housed one of its services there until very recently. Built around 1460, it has unquestionable heritage value, Mr Ollivier said.

Having miraculously escaped World War Two bombings, Maison des Quatrans is, together with the twin houses on 52-54 rue Saint-Pierre, the only remaining building of that style in Caen.

More than five centuries later, it sits on the unglamorous Rue de Geôle, a busy commercial street mostly lined with fast-food chains and restaurants and running alongside a tramway line.

Maison des Quatrans waged a fight against the kingmaker of real estate pricing: location.

“The listing makes it a difficult business opportunity,” said Mr Ollivier, eliminating the options of turning it into a restaurant or a private property. The buyer, who has remained anonymous, plans to turn it into a housing complex.

That heritage value may even have increased its ‘real’ worth, considering its location,
The Connexion understands.

Maison des Quatrans is one of many buildings listed as Monuments historiques tangled up in the complexities of real estate dealings, a niche market for major players.

France counted 40,540 Monuments historiques in 2020, according to the Ministry of Culture. Of these, 14,235 received the highest protection category, known as classés, while 30,305 are inscrits. Some 41% were categorised as religious architecture and 35% were manors and castles.

Their total worth is estimated at €60 billion.

In 2016, the state sold €600 million worth of buildings in Paris alone.

Propriétés Le Figaro, the high-end property website of newspaper Le Figaro, listed 450 Monument historique properties. Patrice Besse, a real estate mogul in the sector, listed 56 on his website.

Most, if not all, require renovation work. Yet they are so expensive that the French
government has introduced various fiscal incentives to entice potential buyers.

Maison des Quatrans is a case of heritage being sold in separate lots.

Located in a protected area, owners can deduct up to 30% of restoration costs from their taxable income as part of the loi Malraux, a French tax incentive law that offers significant deductions to owners who restore and rent out historic buildings in protected heritage areas. It is unknown whether Maison des Quatrans requires renovation work.

Agorastore, the website that listed it, stated it was in good overall condition, specifying that its roof and heating system were refurbished in 2019 and that a galvanised staircase was installed in 2025.

“The listing was meant to preserve heritage buildings,” said Eric Carmié, a real estate agent who specialises in Monument historique properties in Auvergne.

“No one would buy an entirely renovated building listed as a Monument historique. Renovation is the main attraction for investors,” he added.

In the case of private buyers, the French state provides subsidies capped at 40% for classified buildings and 20% for listed ones. These grants are managed by regional DRAC offices but depend on available budgets and project priorities.

For this profile of buyer, properties are also more often located in rural areas rather than crowded cities. These properties are typically churches, abbeys and castles.

Many buyers find a middle ground, absorbing the cost of renovations by opening the property to visitors or developing tourism-related activities.

The Collège royal et militaire de Thiron-Gardais, where Stéphane Bern lives (see French Living, April 2026), is a prime example. Mr Bern bought it in 2012 and opened the museum and its gardens to visitors from July 1 to August 30, 2026.

“This is a good way to soak up French culture and its history,” said Mr Carmié, adding that buyers ought to be French tax residents.

Fiscal incentives are sometimes not enough to convince buyers, a 2022 report from the Cour des Comptes pointed out, because of how expensive renovation works are.

In the worst-case scenario, churches and chateaux listed as Monuments historiques are sold for a symbolic euro due to a lack of buyers, such as in Montrenault in Saosnes (Sarthe) in 2017.

“It has been an empty building for 150 years. There is nothing left. About 50 years ago, its renovation was estimated at one million francs,” Gilles Frénéhard, the then mayor of Saosnes, told local newspaper Le Perche.

 Renovations were completed in March 2025 for €27,000.

“We raised the possibility of having no buyer,” said Mr Ollivier about Maison des Quatrans. 

“I do not know what I would have done if that happened. No scenario was planned,” he added.