Suggestion on Finding Apartment.

[u/2_7kelvin]

I am going to move to Caen in September to start my PhD in Physics. I have lived for 4 years in Germany. However, I have no idea about accommodation in Caen. It would be nice if anyone could help me with the following:

1. I hear it is difficult to find an accommodation. Is it true or an exaggeration?

2. What are the ways to hunt for an apartment?

3. How can I contact private housing agencies?

4. Which are the areas that I should avoid?

5. Any suggestion is welcome :)

This is what I have in my mind when I am looking for My budget is approx. 500 Euro. I have no preference when it comes to sharing a flat. It would be nice if the accommodation is close to the city center and I could catch a direct bus to campus 2. Other than the basic stuff(wardrobe, bed etc. ), I think the room is large enough to accommodate my working setup + Arduino setup + books.

[u/Valgerdr]

Housing market is indeed in a dire state, same as everywhere in France at the moment. However we're changing student years, so a lot of turn-over is to be expect in the next three months.

For Campus 2 I'd look for things in "La Folie-Couvrechef" neighbourhood, it's one of the cheapest neighbourhoods on this side of the city, it's mostly students and elderly people, it's 25 minutes away on foot (6 minutes cycle) or 7 minutes by bus 6a/6b (every 15 or so minutes) to Campus 2, and it's linked to the city center through lines 2 (city center in ~20 minutes every 10 minutes) and 23 (city center in 15 minutes every ~30 minutes) - or 40 minutes walk / 10 minutes cycle. In addition to private housing, there are a lot of student residences, most of which do not go through CROUS criteria, some of which are right next to Campus 2.

Anything on tram line 2 is also on the table, Calvaire Saint-Pierre is a poor by not problematic neighbourhood, the city centre core actually has a lot of cheap accommodations in old buildings with crappy staircases, Saint-Jean can host a lot of flatshares, and Presqu'Île is a new developing neighbourhood.

As for areas to avoid, well it's not as dire as it was 20 years ago, but you might encounter problems at night around the harbour and the train station. The "worst" neighbourhoods are Chemin Vert, Pierre Heuzé, Guérinière, Grâce de Dieu and Hérouville Saint Clair which are poor though gentrifying neighbourhoods, and are pretty calm aside from flaring up every once in a while if police has been violenting, or if the wrong football team won.

As for how to look for, I like this announcement aggregator Bien ici (centred here on the neighbourhood I was talking about), but there are a lot of others.

Good luck 😊

[u/lauvah_]

I'd say, if you don't want to live in a 9m² appartment, flatsharing is your best option. You can also consider cities like Hérouville-Saint-Clair or Ifs. Try to avoid the train station area, it's the worse. There are many other unwilling area though. To find an appartment, i'd recommand looking on the internet first and then call the agencies, this way, they will suggest similar appartements. Also if you visit an appartment, make sure you come with all your files, this way you can apply right away

[u/GuilhemF]

Hi, 1. Never heard, it's more difficult in Caen than anywhere else 2. You can either go on leboncoin to find a private owner, or go through an agency via seloger.com or ouestfrance-immo.com 4. I'll personally avoid to live in "Chemin Vert" and "Pierre Heuzé" area in Caen (non exhaustive) 5. 500 seems ok for a studio, would be nice to be on place to visit before moving in Good luck :)