Listed for sale at 8 million, this Norman castle was sold for 2.3 million

This castle half-timbered, typical of the Pays d’Auge, listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments, found a buyer in November 2020. Put up for sale for 8 million euros in 2014, it then saw its selling price drop to 3.25 million euros, in July 2019. This drop was not enough to attract buyers since the property finally left for the price of 2.34 million euros, according to the base. DVF de Bercy which gives access to the prices of real estate in France sold until December 2021 (this sample is updated twice a year). Or a price divided by more than 3 in 8 years.

The former owners carried out major works for more than 40 years developing the 9 hectare park by the planting of many trees, which partly justifies the plump sum to which it was offered for sale. The French garden, designed by the famous landscape architect Achille Duchêne, is indeed classified as a Remarkable Garden. It highlights French classicism. Armand and Hélène Sarfati also added an Italian garden, extending the French garden, as well as an alley of cedars and an alley of red oaks.

A nearby railway line

So how do you explain the reduction in the sale price of this 1,200 m² property comprising 15 bedrooms, not to mention the multiple outbuildings, chapel, greenhouse, orangery and caretaker’s house? The proximity of a railway line, which can cause unwanted noise, would it be the only reason for this lower price? “Many people say ‘we see the sign, we live in Lisieux, and we don’t know the place’“, confided the new owner of the property to the local newspaper The Pays d’Augemaking it ahidden treasure“. Would this geographical distance from major cities in the region have deterred potential buyers? It’s hard to say as castle transactions are often done with the utmost discretion.

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The new buyers, passionate about art, he being the president of a company that manages museums and monuments and her, the manager of a contemporary art gallery, have bypassed the railway line. They aim to highlight this castle with its four corner turrets and its sublime polychrome tiled roof, the first stones of which date from the 11th century. In particular, they opened a tea room in the orangery this year and plan to host cultural events.