At nightfall, this Friday January 5, small queues stretch in front of the shops in Ouistreham (Calvados). In the coastal resort “with a village atmosphere”, there is a lot of traffic between the small races, the Christmas skating rink and the onlookers. It must be said that since 2017, the town located about twenty minutes from Caen has been gaining inhabitants. INSEE published census data (for 2020) at the end of 2022, which confirms the dynamics observed in and around Ouistreham.
“There are 9,438 inhabitants,” says the mayor, Romain Bail. And today it is likely to be more because the 2020 data does not include post-Covid installations. I’d say there are 9700-9800 inhabitants actually. Which create the conditions for a relatively lively daily life in the seaside town, even out of season. Ouistreham and its environs appear to be gaining momentum.
Many communes in the sector, at the end of the Orne estuary, are gaining inhabitants, compared to the 2014 census. Example, just south of Ouistreham, in Saint-Aubin-d’Arquenay, they went from 775 souls in 2014 to 1122 in 2020, one of the largest increases in Calvados. “The housing construction program has accelerated since 2014. Access to Caen is easy and there is a lot of land available,” summarizes a deputy mayor. The village is happy to have four classes in its school.
A micro-nursery has also been opened since September, which is “much in demand”, says Amandine, an early childhood assistant. “We will open another one in 2024. It is an area with a lot of construction. We see many families with children arriving. It cannot be said that there are fewer people in the low season. The area is very popular», continues the young woman.
From her hairdresser, the only business in Saint-Aubin, Manon takes care of the hair of the newcomers. “I have many ex-Parisians who have just moved and, more generally, new inhabitants. Lots of young couples,” she confirms. What hope of attracting new local traders, the town’s Achilles heel.
The Orne estuary is one point of what many describe as “the golden triangle”, of Courseulles-sur-Mer to the northwest, Caen to the south and Ouistreham to the northeast. A life in a maritime environment, near the conurbation of Caen. The vast majority of localities have gained residents since 2014. And the Covid epidemic has increased the attractiveness of the northern part of the triangle.
These new families are a central issue, explains Ouistreham mayor Romain Bail: “Ouistreham’s population is ageing. There are more deaths than births. We are working to attract families and young retirees to have a real reserve of life”. Between 100 and 120 homes have emerged each year for the past four years to follow the demographic balance. “Families are coming back. There is a renewal. It’s fun, even for active retirees like my wife and I. The city is not a retirement home,” says Serge, a pensioner who has been living for ten years, with a smile.
Downside : Property prices are skyrocketing. In Saint-Aubin-d’Arquenay, Nicolas describes “a sector that has become very expensive. My partner and I bought a house in a nearby village before it exploded. Today he took 100,000 euros”. Romain Bail assures that Ouistreham will fight to limit in particular the phenomenon of housing dedicated to renting where the excess of second homes, however, does not hide the risk of “gentrification”. “The prices of the Côte Fleurie (Cabourg, Deauville, etc.) will get there little by little. “. A real estate dynamic that will intersect with that of demography, still increasing in four to five years according to local estimates.
