Looking for a country house for sale in Manche (50)? Between the Normandy bocage, the Mont-Saint-Michel bay and the Cotentin peninsula, the department offers distinctive rural housing: granite houses in the Cotentin, half-timbered farms in the Avranches area, Normandy manor-style houses with a turret, thatched cottages tucked into the bocage. This page brings together the country houses for sale in Manche published on ma-propriete.fr by private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Proximity to the Manche coastline, with its large tides and traditional harbours, strongly shapes the profile of buyers in this department.
To help you decide, we present the actual prices of country houses in Manche (notarised sales 2020-2025), the areas worth knowing from Saint-Lô to Avranches, and the criteria that determine the value of a house in the Normandy countryside. Our complete guide to buying a country house in France completes these benchmarks, from surveying an old building to financing. You will also find pointers on the climate differences between the windier Cotentin peninsula and the more sheltered inland bocage.
How much does a country house cost in Manche (50)? According to DVF data (notarised sales) analysed by the ma-propriete.fr observatory, the median price of a country house in Manche (50) stood at €180,000 in 2025, with an average price of €188,527 and a median price of €1,750/m² of living space (3,263 house sales in rural municipalities over the year). The price range is wide: 10% of houses sold for less than €90,000 (floor price, 1st decile) and 10% for more than €300,000 (ceiling price, 9th decile). The typical country house here offers 107 m² of living space on an average plot of 4,202 m², i.e. around 0.4 ha.
This market is close to the regional median (Normandy: €189,000) and close to the national median (€189,200). Since the second half of 2020, the median price has risen from €153,000 to €180,000, i.e. +17.6%; over one year (2024-2025) the change is +5.9%.
| 2025 indicator | Manche | Normandy | France |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price | €180,000 | €189,000 | €189,200 |
| Average price | €188,527 | €197,998 | €207,100 |
| Floor price (1st decile) | €90,000 | €100,000 | €90,000 |
| Ceiling price (9th decile) | €300,000 | €304,000 | €340,000 |
| Median price per m² of living space | €1,750/m² | €1,872/m² | €1,830/m² |
| Average living space | 107 m² | 106 m² | 108 m² |
| Average plot size | 4,202 m² | 3,500 m² | 3,181 m² |
| Number of sales in 2025 | 3,263 | 14,367 | 150,313 |
A departmental average hides large gaps. A smallholding to renovate, a restored longère with its outbuildings, a farmhouse on several hectares of land or a manor house with parkland do not sell at the same price, and the location matters as much as the building: coastline, tourist area, peri-urban countryside close to a job market or deep countryside. The table below shows the median price of country houses in Manche (50) by type of municipality (cumulative sales from mid-2020 to 2025) and its change between 2021 and 2025.
| Type of municipality | Median price 2020-2025 | Median price per m² | Change 2021-2025 | Sales 2020-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourist coastline | €230,000 | €2,362/m² | +15.0% | 2,297 |
| Residential coastline | €192,500 | €1,940/m² | +8.9% | 2,615 |
| Inland tourist areas (hinterland, mountains) | €132,550 | €1,250/m² | +14.5% | 123 |
| Peri-urban countryside (city catchment area) | €173,000 | €1,630/m² | +16.6% | 5,389 |
| Deep countryside (outside urban influence) | €148,000 | €1,467/m² | +11.5% | 8,933 |
These benchmarks help you assess a listing, estimate a property before putting it up for sale, or set your budget for a holiday home or a permanent move to the French countryside. To go further, see our observatory of country house prices in France (national, regional and departmental analysis, downloadable annual report) and work out the full cost of your purchase, including French notary fees, with our notary fees calculator.
The Manche country house varies by area: austere, massive granite in the Cotentin, half-timbering and cob in the Avranches area and the lower-Normandy bocage, paler limestone around Coutances. The Normandy manor house, with its stair turret and dormer windows, marks the market towns, while the low longère under thatch or slate remains the most common form in the countryside. Thatched roofs, rarer today, still survive on a few listed longères, requiring specific know-how for their upkeep.
Land is a central criterion: a garden, a cider-apple orchard, hedge-lined bocage meadows, sometimes a small woodland. Traditional outbuildings (a cider press house, a store, a barn) lend themselves to conversion into a gîte or workshop. Hedge-topped banks, typical of the Normandy bocage, structure the land and provide welcome natural shelter for the garden and orchard.
Around Saint-Lô and the Vire valley, country houses benefit from good road access towards Caen, whose station reaches Paris by Intercités train in a little over two hours. The Avranches area and the Mont-Saint-Michel bay, much sought after for their setting, concentrate second homes, while the Cotentin (Coutances, Valognes, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin) combines coastline and inland bocage. The Villedieu-les-Poêles area, known for its coppersmith heritage, illustrates well this preserved inland bocage, roughly midway between Avranches and Saint-Lô.
The Mortain area and the south of the department, less well connected around Mortain and Villedieu-les-Poêles, remain markedly more affordable than Avranches or the Mont-Saint-Michel bay, with smallholdings to renovate offering several hectares of bocage land. The same budget can buy a modest house near the Mont-Saint-Michel bay or a far larger property in the Mortain area.
The damp oceanic climate calls for particular attention to the condition of the roof, insulation and the energy rating, often a weak point for old, poorly insulated granite farmhouses. Proximity to the coast and the Mont-Saint-Michel bay clearly adds value compared with an isolated hamlet in the inland bocage. The risk of coastal flooding, to be checked for properties near the shoreline, adds to the usual points of attention for an old building.
Check the private drainage system, common in scattered rural housing, fibre-optic coverage for remote working, and the local planning rules or flood risk plan if the house sits near a river or the coast. Bocage ditches and hedge banks also need regular upkeep, to be factored into the overall project budget.
On ma-propriete.fr, filter Manche country houses by budget, living space and land area, set up an email alert so you never miss a new listing, and if needed widen your search to all country houses for sale in Normandy. Also compare listings by land area and the presence of a cider press house, a heritage feature much sought after in this department. Buyers moving from cities often need time to adjust to the pace of services and shops in the smaller Manche towns.
