Chestertons Global welcomes Chestertons Nice to its International Network

Chestertons Global has extended its presence on the French Riviera, welcoming Chestertons Nice to its international affiliate network. The new affiliate brings coverage across Nice, Saint Paul de Vence and the wider hinterland around Valbonne, a part of the Côte d'Azur with a buyer profile all of its own, and one that sits close to the coast without behaving like the rest of it.

Led by more than two decades of local expertise

Chestertons Nice is led by Olivier Morvan, who has spent more than 25 years advising buyers and sellers across this stretch of the Riviera. His team of four specialist brokers operates from Valbonne, covering a segment of the market that is geographically close to the coast but trades on markedly different terms to the seafront.

Early in his career, Morvan worked as an estate agent in London, an experience that shaped how he approaches international buyers and what they expect from an advisor. He returned to the South of France and built a practice centred on long-standing client relationships, off-market access and detailed local knowledge across the hinterland and the wider Côte d'Azur.

Three markets, three very different buyers

The area covers a distinct buyer profile, and one that has shifted considerably over the past decade as the Riviera's appeal has broadened beyond the seafront.

Valbonne sits at the edge of Sophia Antipolis, Europe's largest technology and science park, home to around 2,400 companies and 40,000 workers. That professional base shapes demand for the village and its surrounds, drawing technology executives, entrepreneurs and internationally mobile professionals looking for a base within 30 minutes of Nice Côte d'Azur airport.

Saint Paul de Vence is one of the region's most preserved medieval villages and home to the Fondation Maeght. Buyers here are typically drawn by cultural heritage and lifestyle rather than coastal frontage, with a preference for properties that rarely trade on the open market.

Nice itself is France's fifth-largest city and a major transport hub with direct connections across Europe. Alongside its long-established second-home sector, the city supports a growing permanent residential market.

Constrained supply, broad international demand

What these three sub-markets share is limited supply. Planning controls, village character designations and agricultural land protections restrict new development, so well-positioned properties in established locations change hands infrequently.

Demand, by contrast, is wide-reaching. Chestertons Nice reports sustained buyer interest from the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany and the Middle East, with enquiries from North America increasing in recent months. Buyers are looking for both primary residences and long-term investment assets, with lifestyle and capital preservation the primary drivers behind most decisions. As the market has become more selective, buyers have grown more precise on pricing and condition.

Part of a broader Riviera strategy

The partnership builds on Chestertons Global's existing footprint on the French Riviera and reflects a wider approach: working with specialist local firms in markets where international buyer demand is significant and on-the-ground expertise is difficult to replicate from a distance.

Chestertons Nice now sits within an affiliate network spanning more than 25 countries, backed by the Chestertons name and more than 200 years of experience in real estate. For buyers exploring opportunities across Nice, Saint Paul de Vence and the Valbonne hinterland, that combination means access to a market that rarely appears on the open listings pages, paired with the local relationships and knowledge that only two decades on the ground can build.

Whether the interest lies in Valbonne's proximity to Sophia Antipolis, Saint Paul de Vence's cultural pedigree or the connectivity Nice itself offers, Chestertons Nice provides a single point of access to a market that is easy to admire from a distance and considerably harder to navigate without someone who has spent decades inside it.

Get in touch with Chestertons Nice to find out more about buying property across this part of the Côte d'Azur.