“There is a before and an after”: from summer visitors to students, Quilles and Corniche in full transformation at the end of August

L’offre de logements étudiants est équivalente à la demande, selon les agences immobilières des quartiers. MIDI LIBRE – KELMAN MARTI

Chaque année, ces deux quartiers connaissent un important changement de physionomie fin août.

In summer, the streets are teeming with tourists. The back and forth between vacation rentals and the beach never ends. They punctuate the Quilles and Corniche neighborhoods for two months each year. Then, almost suddenly, nothing. The end of August means the return from vacation and the start of the school year. And it is at this precise moment that the change takes place. The towels on the shoulders are no more. Backpacks have taken over. The same goes for flip-flops. Back to traditional shoes. As for tank tops, they have transformed into t-shirts or shirts. In other words, the tourists have deserted, the students have taken their place.

A large number of second homes

“There is clearly a before and after. The third week of August, it is still the tourists who dominate. The last, we see families with their student children. There is a big change, including in the style of dress”, notes with humor Aude Martin, employee of the Amarine real estate agency, located on the edge of the marina. If the change is so marked, it is because Quilles and Corniche lend themselves perfectly to this double facet.

Rather recent as neighborhoods, they have seen many people, often well-off, couples and relatives or retired, invest in apartments to make them beautiful second homes a stone's throw from the sea. They represent 85% of the real estate stock of Quilles, according to Alba Boix, manager of the eponymous real estate agency. At the same time, being often from outside, these owners generally only come for the summer period. The rest of the year, renting therefore allows a return on investment.

Well-placed students

And who is looking in this area of ​​Sète? Students. “They come here because they are close to the IUT chemistry, the BTS of the Joliot-Curie high school or the nursing school”, justifies Alba Boix, estimating that “70% of student housing in Sète is located in Les Quilles”.

The city centre is increasingly popular

While Les Quilles and La Corniche are the main student districts in Sète, the city centre has been gaining popularity in recent years. “There are more and more of them, but it remains a tiny proportion. It must be less than 10% of the total of this young population”, estimates Aude Martin of the Amarine real estate agency. Being in the middle of everything, in a livelier area, with more charm, as well as shops… There are many reasons to prefer the city center.

"But living there also means being far from school. I have a friend who lives there and he is restricted by the bus schedule. It is less comfortable", assures Ewan Piraux, student.

However, the city centre should still "continue to gain students with the arrival of higher education establishments (the Michèle-Weil university centre, editor's note)", announces Aude Martin.

"60% of our holiday accommodation offering is converted into students", also underlines Aude Martin. The meeting between owners of second homes and students is therefore inevitable.

Florian Cangelosi, in his first year at the IUT of chemistry, is happy to live in this corner of the city. “I am next to the school on foot. There are shops, restaurants and even the beach within reach”, lists the young man on a student lease.

Mobility leases and students

This is one of the particularities of these rentals. They are almost exclusively mobility or student leases. “These contracts, lasting from one to ten months for the first and nine fixed months for the second, guarantee owners that they will get their second home back for the summer”, explains the Amarine employee. As for the choice between the two, it is often decided based on the length of studies.

“I rent with a student contract to be sure to get my apartment back in the summer”, Patrick Linares confides in this sense. “I am happy to leave my accommodation in the summer, it saves money. And the advantage with this type of contract is that I have priority at the end of the summer to take it back”, adds Ewan Piraux, a student at the IUT of chemistry, who pays 360 euros for a 22 m&sup2 without electricity.

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