Buying a mill for sale in Jura (39) means choosing a department of steep-sided valleys and karst rivers, where the Doubs, Ain, Bienne and Saine once powered a large number of watermills and water-driven sawmills. On this page, ma-propriete.fr brings together the mills for sale in Jura: watermills to renovate at the bottom of a steep-sided valley, former flour mills and sawmills, and millers' houses built in local stone.
You will also find price benchmarks based on actual sales, an overview of where these properties are concentrated, and the specific points to check before buying a mill in Jura. To prepare your project, read our white paper on setting up a rural gîte, useful for turning a mill's outbuildings into holiday accommodation. Each listing states the property type (watermill, converted sawmill or miller's house) and its location in a steep-sided valley or on the plain, a useful marker for narrowing your search in Jura.
There are no official statistics dedicated to mills: sales are too rare and too varied (a ruin to restore, a habitable mill, a flour mill with a turbine). The most reliable market benchmark remains the price of country houses, which a habitable mill resembles, with a premium for the water, the character and the water rights, and a discount for the work required.
How much does a country house cost in Jura (39)? According to DVF data (notarised sales) analysed by the ma-propriete.fr observatory, the median price of a country house in Jura (39) stood at €186,000 in 2025, with an average price of €191,899 and a median price of €1,733/m² of living space (1,139 house sales in rural municipalities over the year). The price range is wide: 10% of houses sold for less than €96,000 (floor price, 1st decile) and 10% for more than €288,280 (ceiling price, 9th decile). The typical country house here offers 112 m² of living space on an average plot of 2,767 m², i.e. around 0.3 ha.
This market is well above the regional median (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: €157,000) and close to the national median (€189,200). Since the second half of 2020, the median price has risen from €158,250 to €186,000, i.e. +17.5%; over one year (2024-2025) the change is +3.3%.
| 2025 indicator | Jura | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | France |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price | €186,000 | €157,000 | €189,200 |
| Average price | €191,899 | €168,680 | €207,100 |
| Floor price (1st decile) | €96,000 | €74,000 | €90,000 |
| Ceiling price (9th decile) | €288,280 | €279,670 | €340,000 |
| Median price per m² of living space | €1,733/m² | €1,525/m² | €1,830/m² |
| Average living space | 112 m² | 108 m² | 108 m² |
| Average plot size | 2,767 m² | 2,805 m² | 3,181 m² |
| Number of sales in 2025 | 1,139 | 11,450 | 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 Jura (39) 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 * | €173,775 | €2,197/m² | +20.4% | 34 |
| Residential coastline | €169,500 | €1,762/m² | +28.0% | 166 |
| Inland tourist areas (hinterland, mountains) | €202,500 | €1,930/m² | +40.5% | 434 |
| Peri-urban countryside (city catchment area) | €170,000 | €1,613/m² | +12.5% | 3,860 |
| Deep countryside (outside urban influence) | €180,000 | €1,693/m² | +23.5% | 2,391 |
* Between 30 and 99 sales: indicative value.
Note: in Jura (39), the municipalities classified as "coastline" have no access to the sea. They are municipalities bordering lakes of more than 1,000 hectares (or, in Eure, the Seine estuary) covered by the 1986 Loi Littoral, which also applies to such inland lakes and estuaries.
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 karst landscape of the Jura, marked by waterfalls and resurgences, favoured the building of many watermills along the Doubs, Ain, Bienne and Saine rivers, notably in the steep-sided valleys and near the Hérisson waterfalls. Built in limestone, many have kept their millrace and weir, some still fitted with a water wheel or millstone.
Around Saint-Claude, the power of the Bienne river also drove sawmills and eyewear workshops set up in former mills, a local particularity compared with simple flour milling. Windmills are practically absent from the Jura, a department where mountain water always sufficed for motive power. Some former eyewear workshops in the Bienne valley have kept their original water wheel or turbine, evidence of an industrial conversion specific to the Haut-Jura.
Around Lons-le-Saunier, the departmental capital, several secondary valleys keep watermills within easy reach. The Doubs valley, towards Dole and its TGV station, offers quick access and well-preserved buildings. The Haut-Jura, around Saint-Claude, Champagnole and the Hérisson waterfalls, appeals to buyers seeking mid-mountain nature; Salins-les-Bains, in the Furieuse valley, adds a thermal and salt-making heritage to the offer. Buyers should also budget time for the administrative side, since a change of use on an old milling site can require sign-off from more than one local authority.
Mills close to Dole, neighbouring Besançon, or the tourist sites of the Haut-Jura sell above the regional average. The south of the department, towards Saint-Amour and Orgelet, remains the most affordable area for a mill to renovate. Between the two, the Arbois and Poligny area, on the Jura wine route, offers a balance between vineyard heritage and moderate prices.
Check the water rights attached to the mill (fondé en titre or a formal authorisation), the condition of the millrace, weir and sluice gates, and the ecological-continuity obligations on the Ain, Bienne and Doubs, classified rivers closely monitored for their fish habitat. A hydroelectric turbine project requires a prior flow study, as the karst regime can vary sharply with the seasons. It is also worth asking about flood behaviour, as the Jura karst can cause water levels to rise quickly after heavy rain. A notary familiar with rural Jura property can help clarify how an old water right transfers with the sale.
As for the building, check for damp at the bottom of a steep-sided valley, flood zoning risk during high water, and winter access. Outbuildings, often sturdy in former Jura mills, lend themselves well to a gîte, a format suited to a fast-growing nature-tourism market. Also check snow clearance and winter access, as some mills in Jura's steep-sided valleys can be hard to reach when it snows. A structural survey focused on the retaining walls and the old millrace lining is a sensible precaution before committing to a purchase, particularly on limestone-built properties.
On ma-propriete.fr, mill listings in Jura are published by private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by budget, living space and land area, set up an email alert to be told of new listings, and browse all mills for sale in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté if your search extends beyond the department. An online valuation is also available if you are considering selling your own mill in Jura.
