This fall, Benjamin Fender, a 38-year-old entrepreneur and real-estate developer, decided to relocate his family of four from a 1,350-square-foot apartment in Paris’s 17th Arrondissement to the suburbs. He is now slated to close on a six-bedroom home on a half-acre lot in the community of Garches, known for its access to green spaces. The asking price was 2.5 million euros, or about $2.9 million, according to his real-estate agency, Daniel Féau Saint-Cloud.
Fender says he was in search of more room “and a calmer environment,” but he was also drawn to the growing cultural and shopping options that are helping to make the area’s suburbs “more like Paris.”
Served by an ever-expanding network of subway and commuter-train lines, the suburbs of Paris are becoming more attractive to young buyers. Lower square-foot prices, more green space and a general vibe shift are fueling the trend.
Pierre Rosenberg, the 89-year-old former president-director of the Louvre and longtime Parisian, says until recently “to live in Paris was crucial.” Now, however, “the younger generations are mostly living outside Paris,” he says, calling the trend nothing short of “a great revolution.” Indeed, Rosenberg has chosen to donate his private art collection to the buzzy new Musée du Grand Siècle, which will soon open not in Paris, but the western suburb of Saint-Cloud.
In several of the city’s affluent suburbs, such as Boulogne-Billancourt and Rueil-Malmaison, residential real-estate markets are outpacing Paris itself. In Boulogne-Billancourt, for example, the average apartment-sale price jumped 4.6% in October from the same month of last year, compared with 1.5% in Paris over the same period, according to the French real-estate websites SeLoger and Meilleurs Agents.
Here are some of the standouts among Paris’s suburbs.
Paris’s Wealthiest Suburb
Just west of Paris, Boulogne-Billancourt borders the city’s swanky 16th Arrondissement. Boulogne-Billancourt residents have the highest disposable income of any comparable area in the greater Paris region, according to INSEE, a French national statistical agency.
Celebrated for its Art Deco architecture and easy access to the French capital, the community is “Paris, but not Paris,” says Valentin Kretz of Kretz Family Real Estate.
Prices in Boulogne-Billancourt—where upscale listings range from semidetached homes to free-standing mansions—can reach eight figures, says Kretz. He sold a 7,000-square-foot, six-bedroom home there for around $16.5 million in 2023, he said. And this month, his agency sold a seven-bedroom house for about $6.7 million.
Average prices of single-family homes here reached roughly $1,120 per square foot in October, up 2.8% over the past year. The recent Kretz sale far exceeded that, at about $1,990 per square foot.
Priciest Homes for Sale
The most expensive homes currently for sale in the greater Paris area are in Le Vésinet. Connected to Paris by commuter train, the area is known for its historic Belle Époque mansions and elegant parks. Sought-after residences there have vast lawns and outdoor pools.
Le Vésinet now has three homes above $10 million on SeLoger/Meilleurs Agents. An estate from the late 1890s is asking roughly $44.7 million. The 18,300-square-foot main house, modeled after a palace at Versailles, has four bedrooms.
Single-family home sale prices have increased 3.9% in Le Vésinet over the past year, according to SeLoger/Meilleurs Agents.
A Changing Suburb
A generation ago, Montreuil, just east of Paris, conjured up images of abandoned factories and derelict neighborhoods. Now it’s home to luxury loft conversions, artisanal food shops and Villa8Trois, a Michelin-star restaurant.
Buyers of upscale Montreuil homes include Parisians looking for more space at affordable prices and locals moving up in the market, says Marko Kulundzic of La Sauvage Immobilière. Though sections of the community are far from gentrified, the area near Montreuil’s 1930s town hall is seeing sales above $1 million. A duplex loft conversion, in a 1920s factory building, has listed for about $2.64 million. Median prices for existing Montreuil apartments rose 1.8% between the third quarter of 2024 and 2025, according to the Greater Paris Chamber of Notaries.
Upscale Suburb with the Strongest Growth
Home to an imposing château with Napoleonic connections, the western suburb of Rueil-Malmaison, about 4 miles from Paris’s Bois de Boulogne park, saw average home prices jump 7.3% to about $1.08 million between the third quarter of 2024 and the same period of 2025, says Jérôme Le Breton, a Paris-based notary who handles property sales across France. This makes it the strongest performer of Paris’s high-end suburbs. Proximity helps, says Michèle Six, a real-estate agent with Daniel Féau Saint-Cloud. “Le Vésinet has nicer homes,” she says, “but Rueil is closer to Paris.”
Another community called Sucy-en-Brie, says Le Breton, saw prices rise 9%. But median sale prices in this suburb, to the far southeast of Paris, are still below $600,000. In Rueil, a 1.5-acre compound has listed for roughly $6.5 million.
Newly Suburban Areas
As greater Paris grows ever larger, formerly remote areas are now within commuting distance, turning once far-flung grand residences into suburban homes in all but name.
The community of Magny-en-Vexin, for example, is located about a 45-minute drive from Paris, near the Île-de-France’s border with Normandy. Once considered the countryside, the area is now increasingly home to commuters. Though the average sale price of single-family homes in the area declined 2.3% over the past year, the community is beating out Paris in property yields, or income generated to property owners through rentals. Magny saw an increase of 7% in property yields over the past year, compared with Paris’s 4%, according to SeLoger/Meilleurs Agents.
There, a 19th-century neo-Renaissance château on 172 acres has listed for about $12.5 million. At roughly 18,000 square feet, the château has been in the same family for more than 100 years.