Over the years, land has become extremely rare in Dijon. “All spaces are occupied. The only solution to have land to build or build today is to buy old properties to divide or raze them. And it is often the promoters who buy back these properties: if the cost is high – between acquisition and demolition -, it is profitable for them to make a building, ”underlines Yan Vigneras, partner of Pascale Piat, the manager of the Immo Passion agency.
“The constraints of urban planning are very strong”
But, for individuals, managing to build a house in Dijon proves to be an almost impossible mission, even if, in certain districts, it is still feasible to find land. “It happens that property dealers buy a plot of 600-700 m² and divide it in two with on one side the original house with a small garden and on the other a building plot of around 300 m². But these are still micro-plots. »
The situation is also tense in the Dijon metropolis and only a few municipalities are doing well. “In Messigny-et-Vantoux, there are sometimes properties that will be cut up and land is offered for sale. In Fontaine-lès-Dijon, Daix, Marsannay-la-Côte or even Perrigny-lès-Dijon…, certain plots are freed up, but it generally remains a housing estate”, he indicates, adding that it is necessary “to go on the exteriors and move away from Dijon to be able to build. Some municipalities, like Darois, are a little less saturated”.
In addition to the scarcity of land, “the second complexity with which the buyer will be confronted will be urban planning, whether for renovation or construction. In the past, property dealers cut up properties without asking too many questions, but today they are faced with the complexity of obtaining permits. Since the Avap (area for the enhancement of architecture and heritage) was set up, it is much more complicated. The constraints of town planning are very strong and are exercised, among other things, on the nature and height of the construction… For individuals, it has become a real gas factory. You really have to be determined to build to achieve your goals”.
A percentage of green spaces to respect
And Yan Vigneras to specify that in Marsannay-la-Côte, for example, there are several types of constraints: “We are limited on the height of the construction, on the materials used, on the colors, on the openings… All this in addition to the classic rules, the distance between the built house and the road, the distances between each lot with the property limits… but also the land occupation surfaces according to the coefficient of green spaces. »
Because, you should know that the PLUi-HD (Local intermunicipal urban planning plan habitat displacements) of Dijon metropolis, which applies since January 2020, imposes a rate of eco-designed spaces (vegetated spaces, permeable surfaces, shared spaces ) to be observed during work on existing or new constructions. This rate is expressed as a coefficient of biotope per area (CBS) with an incompressible part of open ground (PLT).
Some municipalities such as Talant or Marsannay-la-Côte include zones in sector 5 for which the PLT is 0.4 and the CBS is 0.6. “It’s one of the highest coefficients. On a plot of 513 m² that we offer in Marsannay, the PLT corresponds to 230 m², or 45% of open ground space. Some 280 m² remains to make the house, the terrace, the garage, the circulation paths, the swimming pool… knowing that there is also a height to respect (we are limited to 7 meters at the ridge). In the end, the house will only be able to be around a hundred square meters,” estimates Yan Vigneras.
“This no longer leaves the potential buyer the freedom to have the property he wants and we find ourselves in inextricable situations. People who have the ability to put a significant price on land don’t want to have a ‘cabin’…”
Five building permit refusals
With the accumulation of all these constraints, “we have already had five building permit refusals in Marsannay-la-Côte and we are still awaiting the return of a building permit for a sales agreement signed in November”. It is becoming extremely complicated to be able to build in the Dijon conurbation, all the more so with the rise in land prices and the increase in the cost of construction.
“Fifteen years ago, in the Montchapet district in Dijon, on property divisions, we came to 350-400 euros per square meter for land, which was already expensive,” concludes Yan Vigneras. “Today, in the metropolis, we reach these sums: a plot of 500 m² is negotiated around 200,000 euros. »
