When you look at lakes and ponds for sale in Ille-et-Vilaine, you are entering Brittany’s busiest pond market. Several areas feed it: the forest ponds of Brocéliande, around Paimpont and Plélan-le-Grand; the reservoirs and ponds of the north and east, from the Ille-et-Rance canal to the Villecartier forest; the lakes left by sand and gravel extraction in the Vilaine valley, on the edge of Rennes; and the hedgerow-country ponds of the south-east, towards Marcillé-Robert and La Guerche-de-Bretagne. Here you will find the ponds for sale in the department, whether a fishing lake, a restored gravel pit or a house with a pond, listed by private sellers, agents and notaires.
The price panel placed after this introduction gives the value of ponds sold in the department, in Brittany and in France. The text that follows describes each area, what buyers from Rennes are looking for, and the checks specific to former gravel pits, forest ponds and water bodies in flood zones. For the steps common to any purchase, rely on our pond buyer’s guide.
According to the ma-propriete.fr pond price observatory, which keeps only ponds, lakes and pools sold without buildings in the French DVF land registry data, 87 pond sales were recorded in Ille-et-Vilaine between July 2020 and December 2025, at a median price of €30,864/ha* and an average of €32,368/ha. Per square metre, the median works out at about €3.09. In 2025, 14 sales give a median of €26,161/ha†. In Brittany, 109 ponds sold over the same period at a median of €32,902/ha, and the regional median reached €26,201/ha in 2025† across 15 sales; the national median was €25,235/ha in 2025.
| Indicator | Ille-et-Vilaine (35) | Brittany | France |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price 2020-2025 | €30,864/ha* | €32,902/ha | €25,694/ha |
| Average price 2020-2025 | €32,368/ha* | €36,149/ha | €32,291/ha |
| Number of sales 2020-2025 | 87 | 109 | 2,053 |
| Median price 2025 | €26,161/ha† | €26,201/ha† | €25,235/ha |
| Number of sales 2025 | 14 | 15 | 300 |
These figures divide the sale price by the total area of the property, banks and surrounding woodland included: a small, well-equipped pond always comes out dearer per hectare than a large lake surrounded by rough ground. They describe ponds sold on their own; once a house or a sizeable wood is added, the price is built differently.
On the listings side, 26 properties with a pond are offered on ma-propriete.fr across France as of 2 October 2026, 2 of them in Brittany. Their median asking price is €94,000 for a median size of about 2.6 ha. These asking prices apply to complete properties, often with buildings, a pond or hunting rights: they cannot be compared directly with DVF medians per hectare. Finally, remember the purchase costs, which you can estimate with our notary fee calculator.
* 30 to 99 sales: indicative value. Source: DVF (French tax authority), processed by ma-propriete.fr; ponds, lakes and pools without buildings of at least 2,000 m², with water covering at least half of the property; July 2020 to December 2025. Listings recorded on 2 October 2026.
The Paimpont forest, often identified with the Brocéliande of the Arthurian romances, is mostly owned by private landowners; the State holds only a small part of it. Its ponds are tied to the history of iron: from the 17th to the late 19th century, the Paimpont forges smelted local ore with charcoal, and reservoirs such as the Étang des Forges, shared with Plélan-le-Grand, supplied water power. The Étang de Paimpont, below the abbey, and the Étang du Pas-du-Houx, the largest in the forest and lined with châteaux, are the best known. The forest is a Natura 2000 site: a woodland pond here is sought after, but any dredging, felling along the banks or bank repair must take this designation into account. The forest extends into Morbihan, where the ponds on sale in Morbihan add to the supply in this area.
South of Rennes, sand and gravel extraction in the Vilaine valley has left many lakes behind. The Apigné lakes, former gravel pits that supplied the city with building materials, have become a leisure area; other restored pits can come onto the market as fishing lakes. These deep waters, sometimes with steep banks, attract carp anglers and predator fishermen; their level follows the alluvial water table rather than the flow of a stream.
To the north, the Ille-et-Rance canal required a network of reservoirs and feeder channels in the 19th century, such as the Étang du Boulet at Feins, now a leisure centre. Further east, the Étang de Villecartier, in the state forest of the same name at Bazouges-la-Pérouse, and the Étang de Châtillon-en-Vendelais, popular with waterbirds, shape the landscape of the Breton marches. To the south-east, the Étang de Marcillé-Robert, overlooked by the ruins of a medieval castle, opens onto hedgerow country where private ponds often sell with a farm. West of Rennes, the Étang de Trémelin at Iffendic, now a leisure park, completes the picture.
Proximity to Rennes shapes demand. Many buyers live in the city and its suburbs and want somewhere to fish or unwind less than an hour’s drive away, without necessarily living there: a leisure pond with an existing hut and vehicle access is enough for them. Carp anglers go for the deep former gravel pits; families tend to look for a house with a pond in the countryside around Fougères, Vitré or Redon. Those who love large woods often combine pond and forest in the Paimpont area, where mixed properties are in demand.
For a former gravel pit, ask for the quarry’s operating permit and the official inspection report on its restoration (procès-verbal de récolement): these documents set out depths, bank gradients and permitted uses. Check whether the land lies within a flood risk prevention plan, as part of the Vilaine valley does, and what that plan allows in terms of huts or earthworks. For a pond on a stream, proof that it is lawful under French water law remains essential, and whether it counts as closed or open water determines the fishing rules. The often old hedgerow-country ponds of the south-east need a careful look at the dam, the monk outlet and the silt; those that receive run-off from arable land quickly become nutrient-rich. Finally, a draining carried out as the authorities prescribe and outside sensitive periods for the fish downstream, is part of good fishing-pond management; our feature on looking after ponds explains how it is done.
Ille-et-Vilaine ponds for sale on ma-propriete.fr are posted by private sellers, estate agents and notaires; sort them by price, size or area, save an alert to receive new listings and, if you are selling, place your own advert online. For a pond surrounded by woodland, the page of woods and forests for sale in Ille-et-Vilaine takes over; to compare with Finistère, Côtes-d’Armor and Morbihan, see the lakes and ponds across Brittany.
