BienCheck pillar guide
DVF data, how to verify a French property price
Written by Mathieu Delranc
Founder of BienCheck · View author profile
DVF is the French government's database of every property sale signed in France since 2014. Address, price, floor area, date, property type, the lot. It's free, it's official, and it's the simplest tool to avoid overpaying.
Trouble is, almost nobody knows how to read it. Here's how to open it, read it, and actually use it to check a listing, spot an overprice, and negotiate with hard numbers on the table.
What DVF actually is
DVF stands for Demandes de Valeurs Foncières (Land Value Records). It's the official dataset published by the French tax office (DGFiP) listing every property sale registered by a notary. Each row is a real signed contract, so a real paid price, not an estimate.
Coverage: all of mainland France plus most overseas departments, except Alsace-Moselle and Mayotte which use a different land registry. The dataset starts in 2014 and is refreshed twice a year, in April and October.
- Official source. Published by the French tax office. State data, not an agent's spin.
- Raw fields. Address, date, price, floor area, property type, room count, land parcel.
- Free. No signup, no payment. Pure open data.
- Reasonably fresh. Updated every six months. In June 2026, you'll see sales up to end of 2025.
Get in with two clicks
Three portals run on the same data with different interfaces. For most buyers, app.dvf.etalab.gouv.fr does the job.
Type the address, zoom into the street, click the parcel. You'll see every sale on that exact spot in the last 5 years. That's it.
- app.dvf.etalab.gouv.fr. Interactive map. The most visual option, best for an individual buyer.
- explore.data.gouv.fr/immobilier. Same data on the data.gouv portal. Functionally equivalent.
- Patrim (impots.gouv.fr). Official tax-office service with a wider search radius. Needs a FranceConnect login.
- data.gouv.fr (raw files). CSV download for Excel analysis. Worth it if you crunch thousands of rows.
Read a DVF entry properly
Each sale shows the total price, the floor area, and the price per sqm. That last one is what you compare on. A sale at €280,000 over 68 sqm gives €4,118/sqm. Write it down.
Next, look at the property type: Apartment, House, Industrial, Outbuilding. Filter to match your target. Comparing a flat to a house makes no sense, even on the same street.
- Mutation date. When the contract was signed. The fresher, the better. Past 18 months, treat with caution.
- Land value. Net price to the seller, agent and notary fees excluded.
- Actual floor area. In sqm. Carrez for flats, habitable area for houses, two slightly different rulers.
- Main room count. Living rooms only: 1-bed, 2-bed, 3-bed. Kitchen and bathroom don't count.
- Property type. Always filter. An industrial unit at €1,200/sqm would wreck your median.
Check the asking price
Five-minute method. Find the listing's street on DVF. Filter on the same type (flat or house), last 24 months. Pick the 5 to 10 closest sales by area, floor and rooms.
Take the median price per sqm. That's your market reference. If the listing is at €4,600/sqm and the median is €4,100/sqm, there's a 12% overprice. Up to you to decide whether the property earns it (view, floor, condition) or whether it's room to negotiate.
- Median, not average. Median neutralises odd sales like a €1 transfer or a deal between family members.
- At least 5 comparables. Below that, the sample's too small. Widen the radius or the timeframe.
- Adjust for quality. High floor +5 to +10%, lift +3 to +5%, balcony or terrace +5 to +15%, open view +5 to +20%.
- Knock off for defects. Ground floor on a busy road -5 to -10%, EPC F or G -10 to -20%, heavy works -15 to -25%.
Classic DVF traps
DVF is powerful but not flawless. Knowing the limits keeps you from drawing wrong conclusions that backfire at the negotiation table.
- Off-plan sales lagging. New-build (VEFA) sales often show up 2 to 3 years after signing. That inflates recent €/sqm artificially.
- Parking or cellar bundled in. When a flat's floor area includes a parking spot, the €/sqm tanks. Check the related parcels.
- Sales between relatives. Disguised gifts at €1, life-interest splits: prices that have nothing to do with the market. Drop the outliers.
- Bulk sales. When an investor buys 3 units together, the total gets divided by 3 but the per-unit price isn't a single-buyer benchmark.
- Alsace-Moselle missing. Departments 57, 67 and 68 run their own land registry. The national DVF doesn't cover them.
Use it to knock down the price
Print your table. Note your median, your comparables, and the overprice. Show it to the agent or seller. With official government numbers, you're past gut feel.
Golden rule: never name a counter-offer without comparables in your hand. A seller drops faster when they see 8 sales below their price than when you just say "it's too high".
- Put the table on the table. Literally. 5 printed DVF rows with date, area, €/sqm. Shifts the balance.
- Quote the source. "Per the French tax office's DVF, sales on this street in the last 18 months range from €3,950 to €4,200/sqm." Nobody argues with the State.
- Aim at the median, not the floor. Pitching the lowest sale makes you look opportunistic. The median is defensible and reasonable.
- Stack property-specific defects on top. EPC, works, floor. A defect-based discount adds on top of the market discount.
Common DVF mistakes
The traps we see most with buyers discovering the tool.
- 1
Using the mean instead of the median
One sale at €8,000/sqm wrecks a whole street. The median smooths extremes.
- 2
Looking back 5 years
The market shifts every 12 months. Past 24 months, your comparables are stale.
- 3
Mixing flats and houses
Two completely different markets. Filter by type first.
- 4
Ignoring floor and condition
A top-floor 2-bed with a lift isn't comparable to a ground-floor 2-bed in a courtyard.
- 5
Thinking DVF shows the listed price
No, it's the net price to the seller. Agent and notary fees are not in there.
- 6
Assuming every property is in DVF
Some contracts go missing (tax-office glitches, delays). Absence doesn't mean unsold.
- 7
Confusing DVF with Patrim estimates
Patrim is a search service, not an estimator. It just hands back raw data.
- 8
Expecting real-time updates
Semi-annual refresh. In June, you see sales up to last December.
- 9
Forgetting bundled parking
A flat sold at €320,000 with parking and cellar doesn't share the same €/sqm as one without.
- 10
Over-reading a single sale
One comparable isn't enough. Aim for at least 5 before drawing any conclusion.
What a DVF check costs
Tools are free. The cost is your time, or paying a service like BienCheck to do it for you.
| Method | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| DVF Etalab on its own | 30 to 60 min | €0 |
| Patrim tax service | 15 to 30 min | €0 |
| Excel on raw files | 1 to 2 h | €0 |
| BienCheck Premium report | Instant | €29 |
| Notary valuation | 1 to 2 weeks | €150 to €400 |
| Private surveyor | 2 to 4 weeks | €400 to €900 |
How BienCheck helps
We crunch DVF for you, cross-referenced with other official sources. You get the median, the comparables and the negotiation room in one click.
Local DVF median
We compute the median of comparable sales over 24 months, on the right property type, in the right radius.
Cleaned-up comparables
We strip out outliers (€1 sales, bulk deals, bundled parking) so your reference is solid.
Negotiation room in €
The gap between asking price and DVF median, adjusted for condition, EPC and defects.
See a samplePrice per sqm by city
For the most-searched towns, we publish a dedicated DVF page you can browse freely.
See DVF prices
DVF gouv FAQ
Is DVF really official?+
Yes. The data is published by the French tax office (DGFiP) in open data. Same source notaries and the tax administration use.
How often is DVF updated?+
Twice a year, in April and October. April's update covers the previous second half, October's covers the first half of the current year.
Why isn't my property in DVF?+
Three likely reasons: the sale is too recent (under 6 months), it's in Alsace-Moselle (different land registry), or there's a data-entry slip at the tax office. Patrim can sometimes fill the gap.
What's the difference between DVF and Patrim?+
DVF is an open dataset with a map. Patrim is a tax-office service that needs FranceConnect and logs your searches. Same underlying data, different fronts.
Do DVF prices include notary fees?+
No. The land value is the net price to the seller, fees and commissions excluded. For the total buyer cost, add 7 to 8% on older property.
Does DVF work for new builds?+
Only partly. Off-plan (VEFA) sales are recorded but with a 2 to 3 year lag between signing and delivery. Recent new-build €/sqm is under-represented.
Can you see the buyer's or seller's name?+
No. DVF is anonymised. Only parcel, date and price are public. No names, no nationality, no profession.
How do I find one specific sale on my street?+
On app.dvf.etalab, type the address, zoom in fully, click the exact parcel. Sales are colour-coded by property type.
Is DVF reliable in rural areas?+
Less so. In villages with 5 sales a year, the sample is too small for a stable median. Widen to the town or the canton.
Can I use DVF against the seller in negotiation?+
Yes, it's actually the most effective move. A seller has no comeback against official government figures, especially with 5 to 10 comparables in front of them.
Does DVF cover auction sales?+
Yes, notarised auctions are in. Court-ordered auctions (forced sales) are too, often at 20 to 40% below market.
What if I spot an error in DVF?+
You can flag it on data.gouv.fr, but corrections only land in the next semi-annual update. In practice, just exclude it as an outlier.
Does DVF replace a notary valuation?+
No, but it makes one transparent. Many notary valuations lean on DVF and add an expert layer. At €29, the BienCheck report covers the same need for most purchases.
How old can a comparable be?+
24 months max. Past that, the market has shifted too much. Ideally stick to the last 12 months if you have enough volume.
Why does my median differ from portals like Meilleurs Agents or SeLoger?+
Portals layer their own data (listings, estimated sold prices) and weightings on top. DVF is the raw official data with no model over it.
Can DVF help estimate future capital gains?+
It's a solid historical base. You can trace €/sqm over 5 years on a precise street and read the trend. Not a guarantee, but a strong indicator.
Glossary
- DVF
- Demandes de Valeurs Foncières. French official dataset of property sales.
- DGFiP
- French tax office that publishes DVF.
- Land value
- Net price to the seller as written in the contract, fees and commissions excluded.
- Median
- Middle value of a series, more robust than the mean against extreme values.
- Land parcel
- Unique land registry ID cross-linked with DVF entries.
- Patrim
- Tax-office online tool that queries DVF via FranceConnect.
- Etalab
- French open-data mission that runs app.dvf.etalab.gouv.fr.
- VEFA
- Off-plan sale of a new build, often lagging in DVF.
- Carrez
- Statutory private floor area for condo units, written in the contract.
- Habitable area
- Useful floor area of a house, excluding unconverted attic and outbuildings.
- Mutation
- Change of owner registered by a notary.
- FAI
- Agent fees included. The listed price with the agent's commission inside, absent from DVF.
- Net to seller
- Amount the seller actually receives. That's the DVF land value.
- Open data
- Public data freely reusable, no signup or payment.
- Comparable
- A sale close in location, type, area and date, used as a reference.
- Discount
- Price reduction applied because of a defect (EPC, floor, works).
- Overprice
- Gap between asking price and the local DVF median.
- Land registry
- Public register of land ownership, run by the DGFiP.
- Alsace-Moselle
- French regions with a separate land registry, not covered by national DVF.
- EPC
- Energy Performance Certificate (DPE in French), A to G, influences value.
Go further
These pages pair well with reading DVF.
- DVF prices by cityReal €/sqm per French town, kept up to date.
- BienCheck Premium reportDVF, EPC, risks and negotiation in one document.
- Negotiating a propertyTurn a DVF overprice into a real price cut.
- Buying an apartmentFull method, DVF included, for a condo purchase.
- Buying a houseReading DVF on a house, with its quirks.
- Notary feesWhat gets added on top of the DVF land value.
- BienCheck methodologyHow we cross-reference DVF, EPC and hazards.
- Data sourcesEvery official source we use, DVF included.
From guide to action
Guides explain. Tools decide. Run the analysis on your property or compare your options in two clicks.
Property analyser
Run a full analysis on a property: price, risks, EPC, negotiation room.
Analyse a propertyProperty comparator
Compare two or three properties side by side on the criteria that actually matter.
Compare propertiesRental yield calculator
Work out the real net yield of a buy-to-let in seconds.
Calculate the yieldSample report
See what a full BienCheck report looks like before you commit.
See an examplePricing
Pick the plan that fits your project: free, Premium or pack.
See pricingCheck your property against real DVF data
BienCheck pulls the DVF, computes the local median, adjusts for property condition and hands you the negotiation room in euros.
Analyse my property (€29)