Looking for recreational land for sale in Essonne (91) means covering a department of contrasts: the wooded, hilly Hurepoix in the north, the Orge and Essonne valleys, the Gâtinais français to the south-east around Milly-la-Forêt, and the vast Beauce plain to the south-west, almost entirely given over to large-scale cereal farming. Small leisure plots, meadows, woods, riverside land, are mostly concentrated in the northern and eastern half of the department, where landholdings remain more fragmented. On this page, ma-propriete.fr gathers the listings of recreational land for sale in Essonne: Hurepoix meadows, Gâtinais woods, plots along the Orge or the Essonne river.
You will find price benchmarks drawn from actual sales, an overview of where these plots are concentrated and the precautions to take before buying a parcel classified as agricultural or natural. Before going further, read our guide on how to turn agricultural land into recreational land, which explains what the local planning rules actually allow, and what they forbid.
There is no such thing as a "recreational land price" in the French notarial records: the DVF database records sales of agricultural land, woodland and ponds, and a recreational plot is priced against these three benchmarks, higher or lower depending on what it adds (vehicle access, a water point, fencing, an existing shelter, a village nearby). The table below gives, for each benchmark, the sales recorded in 2025 in Essonne (91), the median price and the range between the first decile (floor) and the ninth decile (ceiling), with the national figure for comparison.
| DVF 2025 benchmark | Sales | Median price | Range (P10 – P90) | France median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare agricultural land (€/ha) | 32 | €8,000/ha | €5,903/ha – €10,380/ha | €5,307/ha |
| Woodland (€/ha) * | 107 | €6,223/ha | €3,412/ha – €12,416/ha | €4,934/ha |
| Pond (€/m²) * | 313 | €2.54/m² | €1.03/m² – €6.90/m² | €2.54/m² |
Bare agricultural land is well above the national median (€5,307/ha), with the median price moving +11.3% between 2020 and 2025. Woodland trades well above the national benchmark (€4,934/ha), and a pond, a much rarer asset, is valued per square metre of water and banks. To compare a listing, bring everything back to the square metre: €8,000/ha of bare land is €0.80/m², against €2.54/m² for a pond. Recreational land, almost always classified as an agricultural or natural zone, generally sells slightly above bare agricultural land; but it usually remains subject to the SAFER land agency's right of pre-emption, and the SAFER may pre-empt with a downward price revision if the price is excessive compared with local land prices. These benchmarks therefore also help you avoid paying a price the SAFER would challenge.
Find the detail by department, plot size and year in our agricultural land price observatory and in the forest price observatory. Source: DVF (Demandes de valeurs foncières), 2025 sales, processed by ma-propriete.fr; medians published from 30 sales upwards. * Fewer than 30 sales in the department: the benchmark shown is the regional figure for "Woodland"; national figure for "Pond".
In the north, the Hurepoix, around Dourdan and the Orge valley, offers hedge-lined bocage meadows, often with an old farm access, and a few broadleaf woods on the edge of the forêt de Rambouillet. To the south-east, the Gâtinais français, partly a regional nature park around Milly-la-Forêt and La Ferté-Alais, offers wooded plots on the edge of the forêt de Fontainebleau, prized for hunting and quiet, sometimes with a cabin.
To the south-west, the Beauce plain, given over to large-scale cereal farming, has almost no small leisure plots: landholdings there are vast and continuous, with little of the fragmentation that favours this kind of property. Ponds are also rare across the department: valley ponds do exist, but a genuine stretch of water for sale remains an exceptional event, at both regional and national level.
The Orge valley, from Dourdan to Arpajon, and the Essonne valley, around Étampes and La Ferté-Alais, concentrate valley-bottom meadows and the few riverside plots available. The Gâtinais français, around Milly-la-Forêt and Courances, keeps woods and forest edges sought after by nature lovers close to the Seine-et-Marne border. The Étampes area, between the Beauce and the Juine valley, still offers a few grazing meadows accessible from the N20 road. By contrast, the Évry urban area and the urbanised north-east of the department leave very little room for this kind of land. Between these two areas, the Limours plateau, on the edge of the forêt de Rambouillet, also keeps a few enclosed meadows and woods, less well known but just as sought after by buyers coming from Paris.
Areas close to the Chevreuse valley and the forêt de Rambouillet massif, in the north, are among the most sought-after and therefore most expensive, while the Beauce plain and its surroundings, further from wooded areas, remain markedly more affordable where plots can be found. The Limours plateau, in between, tends to sit somewhere in the middle of that range.
The commune's local planning document remains the first reference: in an agricultural (A) or natural (N) zone, no new building is in principle allowed, and a chalet or a light leisure dwelling cannot be installed freely. Part of the Gâtinais français falls within a regional nature park, adding rules to protect the landscape. Check access to the plot, a rural track or a right of way, and the presence of water and electricity, uncommon outside hamlets.
On agricultural parcels, the SAFER land agency may exercise its right of pre-emption, with a risk of the price being revised down if it strays too far from local land values. Along the Orge, the Essonne or the Juine rivers, some areas are classified as flood zones, worth checking before any plan to build a shelter.
The listings of recreational land in Essonne published on ma-propriete.fr come from private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by area, price, location or the presence of a water feature, then set up an e-mail alert to be notified of new plots as soon as they are published. You can also widen your search to recreational land for sale in Île-de-France.
