Castellaras, Valbonne

Castellaras is a gated domain with controlled access and few sales a year. It sits on the heights right over the Valbonne boundary, in the commune of Mouans-Sartoux, the gated domain holds architect-designed villas, including the sculptural houses of Castellaras-le-Neuf by Jacques Couëlle, on landscaped plots oriented to capture the Estérel-to-sea panorama. Turnover is rare. In a typical year only a few properties change hands.

The domain grew around its château. Jacques Couëlle built the Château de Castellaras in 1926 for an American art collector. In 1958 the Seligman bank and the developer Pierre Beckhardt asked him to create a village around it, and over five years he built about 90 houses: the hamlet now known as Castellaras-le-Vieux, completed in 1964. The same developer then commissioned a second scheme of 50 houses. Only five were built, the sculpted concrete houses of Castellaras-le-Neuf (1965), set into the slope under roof gardens that continue the planted ground. In 2000 they received the 20th-century heritage label, now called Architecture contemporaine remarquable.

DVF records 9 house sales of €1M or more in Castellaras over 2021–2025, at a median of €9,176/m², well above Valbonne’s €7,707/m² for the same years. Few houses change hands, and those that do are architect villas with a view. Buyers are typically international families and executives who want a move-in-ready villa of this standard within 25 minutes of Sophia Antipolis, the CIV school and the coast.