The best properties on the French Riviera are never listed.
Between 30 and 40% of prime transactions above €3M on the Côte d'Azur occur entirely outside the public market, no portal, no agency window, no days-on-market counter. They move through networks built over years, through introductions made at the right moment, to the right person.
This is the off-market segment of the Côte d'Azur. It is not a niche. At this price point, between Menton and Saint-Tropez, it is the primary market.
Lemon Properties was founded to operate exclusively within this segment, with a background in international wealth management that most real estate advisors cannot offer, and a network of private bankers, tax attorneys, and notaires that most agencies have never built.
What off-market actually means ?
Off-market is not a property that hasn't been listed yet. It is a property that will never be listed.
The distinction matters. A property that enters the public market accumulates something that sophisticated buyers will always use against the seller: a history. Days on market. Price adjustments that signal weakness. Visible negotiation that erodes perceived value before a single visit has taken place.
An off-market property arrives differently. It reaches one pre-qualified buyer at a time, without a public record, without a counter running. The seller controls who sees it, when, and under what conditions.
The result, when the process is handled correctly: a premium of up to 15% compared to equivalent listed properties. Not because secrecy adds value, but because the absence of erosion does.
Two zones. Two distinct markets.
The Monaco corridor — Menton to Villefranche-sur-Mer
From Menton at the Italian border to Villefranche-sur-Mer and its deep natural bay, the Monaco corridor is driven by capital preservation and fiscal residency.
Buyers here — predominantly Swiss, British, and Gulf HNWI — are acquiring both a property and a jurisdiction.
Cap Ferrat holds fewer than 300 villas in its entirety, classified under Natura 2000 with no meaningful new construction possible. Èze and the Corniche hillside offer stone properties with protected land and views that extend from Monaco to Antibes. Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and Cap d'Ail offer Monaco adjacency at a discount that has been narrowing for a decade.
The off-market share above €3M in this corridor exceeds 40%. In certain micro-markets — Cap Ferrat, Èze — it is estimated above 60%.
Saint-Tropez and the Var hinterland
The Golfe de Saint-Tropez operates on a different logic. Here, sellers protect lifestyle and privacy, not tax residency. The peninsula is essentially built out — constrained by the Loi Littoral and local planning regulations that have frozen new coastal construction since 1986. Supply is fixed. At the margin, it is contracting.
Behind the peninsula, the Var hinterland offers a different proposition: stone bastides, Côtes de Provence domaines, properties with land that the coastline stopped offering two decades ago — at prices 30 to 50% below equivalent coastal stock. Grimaud, Gassin, La Garde-Freinet, the villages of the Haut-Var. An off-market culture that predates the portals.
A wealth advisory approach to off-market property
Our practice is not that of a traditional real estate agency. Our founder's background is in international wealth management, advising HNWI clients on patrimonial structure, tax residency, succession planning, and cross-border asset allocation. That background shapes every engagement.
Before any property is introduced, we address the questions that should precede the transaction : What is your tax residency, and which bilateral convention applies ? What acquisition vehicle is appropriate — direct ownership, SCI, or a holding structure ? How will the purchase be financed, and does that structure reduce your IFI exposure? What is your succession intention, and does the structure reflect it ?
The right property in the wrong structure is still the wrong decision.
We work alongside our clients' existing advisors, private banks in Switzerland, Monaco, and Luxembourg; tax attorneys; international notaires, or introduce them to our network of specialists.
Every mandate in our portfolio is private. No property appears on any listing site. Introductions are made on a one-to-one basis, following a qualification conversation that protects both the seller and the buyer.
Who we work with
We work with buyers who have done their research, know their budget, and are ready to move when the right property appears.
We work with sellers who understand that discretion protects value — and who have no desire to see their property on a portal.
We work with wealth managers, private bankers, and family offices in Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom who need a reliable and professionally credible counterpart on the French Riviera.
Current portfolio: 15 private mandates. €101M in assets under mandate. Menton to Saint-Tropez. Zero public listings.
The conversation starts with a message.