Within easy high-speed rail reach of Paris, a gîte for sale in Sarthe first targets city dwellers after countryside weekends and spectators at the major races on the Le Mans circuit. The department offers much more: the Plantagenet old town and Saint-Julien cathedral in Le Mans, the Loir valley and its cave-lined hillsides, the Jasnières vineyard, Solesmes abbey and Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Malicorne pottery, the oaks of the Bercé forest, the manor houses of the Perche and the Alpes Mancelles around Saint-Léonard-des-Bois.
Properties here include group gîtes with an owner's house, longères with a separate gîte and stone farms whose outbuildings can host guests. This page is for buyers after a house with gîte, for those taking over a going concern and for sellers. Compare with gîtes in Pays de la Loire and neighbouring Maine-et-Loire.
As of 25 September 2026, one listing in Sarthe is published on ma-propriete.fr, with an asking price of €507,500.
In 2025 the median sale price of a country house in Sarthe was €150,000 (average €153,025), or €1,512/m² of living space, for 103 m² on an average plot of 3,762 m², based on 2,742 sales in rural municipalities. One sale in ten was below €75,000 and one in ten above €240,000. Since the second half of 2020 the median price has moved from €132,000 to €150,000 (+13.6%); over the last year the change is +4.2%. For comparison: €190,000 in Pays de la Loire and €189,200 in France.
| Indicator (2025) | Sarthe | Pays de la Loire | France |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price | €150,000 | €190,000 | €189,200 |
| Average price | €153,025 | €199,126 | €207,100 |
| Lower bound (1st decile) | €75,000 | €100,000 | €90,000 |
| Upper bound (9th decile) | €240,000 | €308,000 | €340,000 |
| Median price per m² of living space | €1,512/m² | €1,875/m² | €1,830/m² |
| Average living space | 103 m² | 106 m² | 108 m² |
| Average plot | 3,762 m² | 2,947 m² | 3,181 m² |
| Number of sales (2025) | 2,742 | 14,604 | 150,313 |
The type of municipality matters: across sales from mid-2020 to 2025, the median ranges from €112,350 (tourist inland) to €160,000 (peri-urban countryside). For a tourism business, coastal and tourist-inland municipalities are the relevant benchmark.
| Type of municipality | Median price 2020-2025 | Median price per m² | Change 2021-2025 | Sales 2020-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourist inland (hinterland, mountains) * | €112,350 | €1,273/m² | +43.7% | 63 |
| Peri-urban countryside (within a town's catchment) | €160,000 | €1,579/m² | +6.4% | 9,099 |
| Deep countryside (outside urban influence) | €128,000 | €1,293/m² | +5.6% | 7,336 |
For prestige homes (houses over 300 m² of living space on 0.05 to 10 ha), the department benchmark is a median of €575,000* over 2021-2025, with an average of €627,500, a P10–P90 range of €407,000 to €909,300 and 1,647 €/m² of living space, over 58 sales. These homes average 368 m² of living space on 17,849 m² of land. The 2025 national median is €822,000.
| Area | Sales | Median price | Average price | Range (P10–P90) | €/m² of living space |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarthe (2021-2025) | 58 | €575,000* | €627,500 | €407,000 – €909,300 | 1,647 |
| Pays de la Loire (2025) | 57 | €750,000* | €851,700 | €442,000 – €1,355,600 | 2,006 |
| Pays de la Loire (2021-2025) | 346 | €665,000 | €828,400 | €421,000 – €1,425,500 | 1,881 |
| France (2025) | 981 | €822,000 | €1,321,400 | €428,000 – €3,100,000 | 2,308 |
Sources: listings published on ma-propriete.fr on 25 September 2026 (asking prices, not sale prices); ma-propriete.fr observatories of country house prices in Sarthe and prestige property prices in Sarthe (in French), DVF data (notarised sales, French tax authority). * fewer than 100 sales: indicative value.
With a median country house at €150,000 in 2025, or €1,512/m², Sarthe is among the most affordable departments in the region, just above Mayenne. The few tourist inland municipalities show a sharp rise since 2021, but on too few sales to read a trend. Peri-urban countryside around Le Mans reaches a median of €160,000 over 2020-2025. A larger gîte property joins the Sarthe large-home market, with a median of €575,000 and eight sales in ten between €407,000 and €909,300.
The Loir valley in the south is the most touristic area: La Flèche, Château-du-Loir, tuffeau hillsides and vineyards draw guests similar to those of the Loire Valley. The Sarthe valley, from Sablé to Malicorne and Le Mans, suits river tourism and cycling. In the north, the Alpes Mancelles and the Sillé forest, in the Normandie-Maine regional park, offer hilly walking country. The Perche in the east attracts Parisians looking for character homes. Around Le Mans, gîtes benefit from motor racing events and business guests. The A11, A28 and A81 meet at Le Mans, whose high-speed rail station puts Paris within weekend reach.
Local buildings range from roussard, a red-brown sandstone typical of Sarthe, to tuffeau in the Loir valley. Barns convert well, but budget for roofing, insulation and the private septic system, inspected by the local SPANC service. The Sarthe, Huisne and Loir valleys are flood-prone, and clay soils can shrink and swell: read the risk report attached to the compromis de vente, the preliminary sale contract. Depending on its capacity, a group gîte may fall under public-access building rules: ask the mairie (town hall) before buying. Each gîte is a meublé de tourisme (furnished holiday let) registered through the national online service created by the law of 19 November 2024; see our guide to converting a barn into a gîte (in French).
Demand is real: family reunions, friends' weekends, sports trips and race spectators. Income, however, is concentrated on weekends and a few key dates. Review past bookings and running costs, then test your assumptions with our holiday rental simulator (in French).
In 2025 the median country house sold for €150,000, on an average plot of 3,762 m². A farm with outbuildings to convert remains affordable; a trading property with several gîtes and a pool costs much more. Allow for notaire fees, furniture and compliance work.
You sign a compromis, then a final deed before a notaire, the public officer handling property sales. If the customer base, website and contracts are transferred, part of the deal may be a fonds de commerce (business goodwill). Our gîte buying guide (in French) covers each step.
Explore gîtes in Mayenne and Vendée, all gîtes for sale in France, and set up an email alert (in French). Selling a gîte in Sarthe? List your property.
