DVF (“Demandes de valeurs foncières”) is the property-sales file published as open data by the French tax authority (DGFiP) via Etalab. It is the most reliable source available to a private buyer: these are prices actually signed, not estimates.
What a DVF row contains
- the sale date and the price recorded in the deed;
- property type (house, flat) and built surface;
- number of main rooms;
- address and commune, with geographic coordinates;
- the cadastral reference of the parcel.
What it does not contain — and this is decisive
DVF says nothing about the floor, the condition, the aspect, the view, a balcony, service charges or works already voted. Two sales at the same €/m² can therefore describe two completely different realities.
That is the fundamental limit of any automated estimate, including ours: it places a price within a market, it replaces neither a viewing nor a survey.
The four most common misreadings
- Multi-lot sales. One transaction can bundle a flat, a cellar and a parking space under a single price. Divided by living surface alone, the €/m² looks abnormally high. Such sales should be excluded, not averaged in.
- Symbolic prices. Sales between relatives, split ownership, inheritance transfers: a few euros per square metre, or amounts unrelated to the market. They distort an average far more than people expect.
- Mean instead of median. A single mansion is enough to drag a neighbourhood average upwards. The median is far more resistant to extremes.
- Data age. DVF is updated in waves, several months behind. In a moving market a sale from two years ago is not a direct reference: look at the trend, not only the level.
Notary fees: not included
The recorded value is the price written in the deed. So-called “notary fees” — mostly transfer duties — are added on top for the buyer. Always compare deed price with deed price.
Two territories are missing
Alsace-Moselle (Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Moselle) uses the livre foncier, and Mayotte is not covered. There is simply no DVF data for these areas — that is a publication gap, not a quiet market.
From data to a decision
Reading DVF is useful; turning it into an offer is more useful still. OffreJuste cleans these sales, discards multi-lot and aberrant prices, compares like for like on surface, then proposes a defensible offer range. Try it on an address.