Looking for recreational land for sale in Loire (42) means looking at the Forez plain and its ponds, between the Monts du Forez and the Pilat massif: bocage meadows on the Forez plain, fish ponds inherited from medieval monks, coniferous woods on the Forez slopes, chestnut groves and beech woods in the Pilat. On this page, ma-propriete.fr gathers the listings of recreational land for sale in Loire: a meadow with a pond, mountain woodland, a plot with a fishing cabin.
You will find price benchmarks drawn from actual sales, an overview of where these plots are found and the points to check before buying an agricultural or natural-zone parcel. A useful first step: our guide on how to turn agricultural land into recreational land: it explains what local planning rules 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 Loire (42), 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) | 107 | €3,400/ha | €2,000/ha – €5,313/ha | €5,307/ha |
| Woodland (€/ha) | 108 | €5,064/ha | €2,598/ha – €9,458/ha | €4,934/ha |
| Pond (€/m²) * | 313 | €2.54/m² | €1.03/m² – €6.90/m² | €2.54/m² |
Bare agricultural land is well below the national median (€5,307/ha), with the median price moving +4.9% between 2020 and 2025. Woodland trades close to 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: €3,400/ha of bare land is €0.34/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 national figure for "Pond".
The Forez plain, between Feurs and Montbrison, is one of the region's major pond areas, developed as far back as the Middle Ages for fish farming; a plot with a pond is more common here than elsewhere in the department, often surrounded by poplars and reeds. Hedge-lined bocage meadows complete the supply of non-constructible land on this farming plain. This diversity, from farmland plain to wooded massif, explains very different uses from one part of the department to another.
To the west, the Monts du Forez bring coniferous woods and low-altitude summer-grazing meadows. To the south-east, the Pilat massif offers sloping chestnut groves and beech woods, sometimes with a cabin or an old barn. To the north, the Roannais, around Roanne and the Côte roannaise, adds bocage meadows and hillside vineyards being converted to other uses.
The Forez plain, around Feurs, Montbrison and Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert, holds most of the ponds and bocage meadows, a short distance from Saint-Étienne. The Pilat massif, towards Pélussin and Bourg-Argental, attracts buyers for its hillside woods and unspoilt setting, close to the Rhône valley and Saint-Étienne station, served by TGV. The Roannais, further north, offers more accessible prices around Roanne, served by TER trains from Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand. The Monts du Forez, towards Noirétable and Ambert, remain the most rural part of the department.
The most affordable areas lie in the Roannais and the Monts du Forez, away from the main towns; ponds on the Forez plain and Pilat woods close to Saint-Étienne sell at, or above, the national average for farmland. The Pilat still holds, on its most remote heights towards Saint-Régis-du-Coin, a few affordable wooded plots.
First check the commune's local planning document (PLU): in an agricultural (A) or natural (N) zone, a cabin, a chalet or a light leisure dwelling cannot be installed freely, and long-term parking of a caravan or mobile home remains regulated. On the Forez ponds, French water law governs the maintenance of the dam and the outlet, and fishing rights; several of these wetlands also fall under Natura 2000 designations. Buyers should also expect the fishing season and pond drainage schedule, when there is one, to affect when a pond plot can be inspected.
On land classified as agricultural, SAFER may exercise its right of pre-emption, with a risk of the price being revised downward if it strays from local farmland prices. Check access (rural track, right of way, landlocked status), the actual presence of water and electricity, and whether a boundary survey exists, particularly on small bocage plots resulting from an inheritance split. On the oldest ponds, check whether fishing rights have been granted to a third party, which can limit your own use of the water. This is worth bearing in mind when comparing offers, as it can shift the timeline as much as the price.
The listings of recreational land in Loire published on ma-propriete.fr come from private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by area, price and the presence of a pond, then set up an e-mail alert to be notified of new plots. You can also widen your search to recreational land for sale in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Specify the preferred area, between the Forez plain, the Pilat or the Roannais, to narrow your search.
