Looking for a forest for sale in Martinique? Contrary to a common belief, Martinique’s forest is not only public. The great massifs of the north, Mount Pelée and the Pitons du Carbet, do belong to the island authority and the State and are not for sale; but much of the island’s woodland is private, scattered in small plots across the mornes (steep hills), the ravines and old farmland that has reverted to forest. It is in this local market, from the north Atlantic coast to the dry hills of the south, that the island’s rare wooded plots and woods for sale are found.
This page describes Martinique’s main forest areas, what a buyer can actually acquire and the rules that govern wooded land: clearance, the coastline, planning and natural hazards. Very few sales are recorded on the island, so the prices shown just after this introduction are only indicative; our article on overseas forest markets and prices puts them in context. You will also find advice on viewing tropical woodland, where slope, water and access matter more than the volume of timber.
According to the ma-propriete.fr forest price observatory, built from sales recorded in the French DVF land registry database, forest sales in Martinique were too few in 2025 (2 sales) to publish an annual price. Even over 2020-2025, the number of sales (8) is too small to publish a price. For comparison, the overseas departments as a whole show a median of €8,991/ha in 2025 across 87 sales, and France as a whole €4,936/ha.
| Indicator | Martinique |
|---|---|
| Sales 2025 | 2 |
| Sales 2020-2025 | 8 |
| Overseas median 2025 | €8,991/ha |
| France median 2025 | €4,936/ha |
On the listings side, 59 forests and wooded properties are offered on ma-propriete.fr across France as of 2 October 2026, none in Martinique at that date. Their median asking price is €145,750 for a median size of about 17 ha. These are advertised prices for whole properties, sometimes with a house or a pond, not recorded sale prices per hectare like those in the DVF database. To work out the full cost of a purchase, add the conveyancing fees with our notary fee calculator.
Source: DVF (French tax authority), processed by ma-propriete.fr; forests of 1 ha or more, cadastral type woodland; July 2020 to December 2025; Moselle, Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin are not covered by DVF. Listings recorded on ma-propriete.fr on 2 October 2026.
In the north of the island, rainforest covers the slopes of Mount Pelée, the Piton Mont Conil, the Pitons du Carbet and the Morne Jacob. Most of these massifs fall under the forêt départemento-domaniale, owned jointly by the Collectivité territoriale de Martinique, successor to the former Département, and the State; the Office national des forêts (ONF), the state forestry agency, manages it, as it does the coastal state forest. Since 2023, the “Volcanoes and Forests of Mount Pelée and the Pitons of Northern Martinique” have been a UNESCO World Heritage site, and strict biological reserves leave parts of the forest to develop naturally.
Much of the north of the island also lies within the Martinique regional nature park. For a buyer, these public forests are simply neighbours: the Route de la Trace, which runs from Fort-de-France to Le Morne-Rouge through the rainforest, gives a good idea of what a private property on their edge can be like: cool, very wet and often steep.
On the northern flanks, from Le Lorrain to Basse-Pointe on the Atlantic side and from Le Carbet to Le Prêcheur on the Caribbean side, a patchwork of private woods fills the ravines and slopes too steep to farm. Many are secondary forests that have grown over former plantation estates (habitations), once planted with cocoa, coffee or bananas. This wooded land sells in small parcels, often with a house, a Creole garden or a cultivated plot, and access is frequently limited to a narrow lane.
Its appeal lies in shade, water and setting rather than timber: private forestry remains marginal on the island, and people rarely buy a woodland plot in Martinique to earn an income from it. In the former banana-growing areas of the north Atlantic coast, have the soil tested before planting food crops, as chlordecone, used until 1993, persists in some soils.
In the drier south of the island, the forest is low and mostly secondary on the hills of Le Vauclin, Sainte-Luce, Rivière-Pilote or Le Diamant. On the Atlantic coast, the Caravelle peninsula, in La Trinité, protects dry forest within a nature reserve. Private wooded land in the south sits alongside a far more active residential and tourist market, and its value depends first on whether it can be built on and on its view.
Along the coasts, the mangroves of the Bay of Fort-de-France and the Atlantic bays belong to the public domain and are not for sale. More broadly, the cinquante pas géométriques zone, 81.20 metres wide unless otherwise delimited, attaches a strip of land along the shore to the public maritime domain: its natural areas are entrusted first to the Conservatoire du littoral, the national coastal protection agency, while built-up sections are subject to specific procedures allowing occupants to regularise their situation. So check exactly where this boundary runs whenever a listing mentions the sea.
Clearing private woodland, meaning any removal of trees that ends its forest use, in principle requires prior authorisation, assessed by the regional agriculture and forestry directorate (DAAF). Wooded land zoned as natural in the local development plan will not become buildable just because the trees are cut: read the planning rules and their appendices before committing, and see our feature on whether you can build on a wooded plot.
Land ownership in Martinique is strongly marked by undivided inheritances: ask the notaire to trace the chain of title and confirm that the sale has been validly agreed, since the act of 27 December 2018 relaxed the majority rules for ending long-standing joint ownership in the overseas territories. Finally, read the commune’s natural risk prevention plan: landslides on the hills, floods on the northern rivers, volcanic risk around Pelée, plus the seismic activity of the Lesser Antilles arc and hurricanes such as Dean in 2007. Our forest white paper will help you prepare your visit.
On ma-propriete.fr, wooded land in Martinique is offered by private sellers, estate agents or notaires, but it remains scarce. So as not to miss a plot, create an alert based on your criteria for size and budget. If you are an owner, you can publish your listing and read our advice on selling woodland on good terms.
