Apartments for rent in Radès

Every September the same notices reappear on the walls around Radès station: "S+1 to let, students welcome". The ISET, the secondary school, the sports city and the firms of the Mégrine-Radès industrial zone keep demand for apartments from ever slackening, and the train line into Tunis does the rest. If the shorthand is new to you, S+1 means one bedroom plus a living room, S+2 two bedrooms plus a living room.

Small units dominate. An S+1 to rent in Radès is often a floor of a town house that has been reworked, or an apartment in a 2000s residence in Radès Méliane. Large S+3 units exist but stay rarer than in neighbouring towns. On houni.tn the owners publish themselves, which avoids agency fees when the listing says so.

The districts that rent out the most apartments

The triangle formed by the station, the main avenue and the Radès Ville market is the first instinct of students and young workers: everything is walkable, including the 7.30am train. The buildings are old, the rents low, the sound insulation sometimes non-existent.

Radès Méliane is the sector for renting in a proper residence: lift, caretaker, underground parking, bright S+2 units. That is where couples with one child and managers from the industrial zone look.

Radès Forêt and Chouchet Radès have few apartment blocks; what is let there is mostly villa floors, which offer more space for a similar rent: compare with the houses to rent in Radès. Radès Mellaha and Mongi Slim, more working class, offer plain S+1 and S+2 units at prices that stay affordable.

What an S+1 or an S+2 costs

A studio or a simple S+1 near the centre usually runs at around 400 to 600 DT, a decent S+2 between 600 and 850 DT, and an S+2 or S+3 in a recent residence in Radès Méliane between 800 and 1,100 DT, garage included. Furnishing generally adds 150 to 300 DT, and is found mainly around the station and the Olympic city, where athletes, trainees and teaching staff on assignment come and go.

These figures come from published listings; they move at the start of the university year and as summer approaches. If local supply is too thin in the month you are looking, the apartments to rent in Ben Arous governorate widen the search towards Mégrine, Ezzahra and Mourouj.

Service charges, aspect, contract

Ask who pays the service charges: in the Radès Méliane residences they can reach 40 to 60 DT a month and are not always included. Look at which way the flat faces, because apartments looking towards the sebkha take the west wind in winter and those on the GP1 side take the noise. And insist on a registered contract, even for a student S+1.

From what I see, the S+2 in a residence at Radès Méliane is worth its 150 DT premium over the centre as soon as you have a car to park. Without a car, the town centre wins hands down.

See also

Anyone thinking about buying should look at the apartments for sale in Radès: the same Radès Méliane residences turn up there, with the price per square metre.