Apartments for rent in Sfax Ville

Sfax is a city of houses, but its centre is a city of apartment buildings. Between the medina ramparts and the port, the Bab Bhar district and its avenues were built up with tenement blocks from the 1930s onwards, and the main roads leading out of it carried on with the same model: four to six storeys, a shop below, apartments above. This is where most of the apartments for rent in Sfax are, and it is what this page covers for the Sfax Ville delegation.

The listings for apartments to rent in Sfax published here come from private owners and agencies in the city; each gives the district, the number of rooms, the floor, whether there is a lift or a garage, and the reader calls the advertiser. For the neighbouring delegations, Sakiet Ezzit, Sfax Ouest, Sfax Sud, all the apartments to rent in the Sfax governorate are on a single page.

Bab Bhar and the old centre: high ceilings and no lift

Around Bab Bhar, avenue Hédi Chaker, avenue Habib Bourguiba towards the railway station and the parallel streets, the buildings are between fifty and ninety years old. The apartments are large, the ceilings high, the balconies look onto the street; the lift is often missing, parking always. An S+2 (two bedrooms plus a living room, the Tunisian count) often rents there for between 600 and 900 DT (Tunisian dinars) depending on its condition, an S+3 for between 800 and 1,200 DT. You also find the centre's rare studios and S+1 flats here, snapped up by young professionals working in the district's banks and firms.

The old centre has its well-known drawbacks: the noise of the avenues, tired stairwells, damp on the lower floors near the port. In its favour, everything is on foot, from the central market to the railway station and the port where the Kerkennah boats leave from.

Route de Tunis, Sfax El Jadida, route de Gabès: new and recent

On the first kilometres of the route de Tunis and in the Sfax El Jadida district, built since the 1990s between the centre and the sea, the residences are recent, with a lift, underground parking and sometimes a caretaker. It is the choice of doctors, executives and couples working in the banks and administrations set up in the new district. An S+2 apartment to rent in Sfax there often exceeds 900 DT, an S+3 apartment to rent in Sfax frequently approaches or exceeds 1,300 DT, and the furnished flats let by the month to visiting executives go higher still.

The route de Gabès and the start of the route de Gremda offer a compromise: buildings from the 1980s and 2000s, cheaper than the route de Tunis, well served by shared taxis, close to the southern industrial zones for those who work there. The first kilometres of the route de Mahdia, towards the sea, round off the picture with a few quieter residences.

The academic year sets the calendar

In Sfax, apartments are let at the start of the academic year. Students from the faculties and institutes start looking from late August, often in groups, and owners in the centre increasingly accept them, provided there is a guarantor. In September come the transferred teachers and the young doctors; by October, supply is at its lowest and rents at their highest. Anyone who wants a choice views in June and July.

Students who want to share an apartment will find the listings for shared flats in Sfax Ville on a dedicated page. Conversely, a family that needs a garage and a courtyard will look at the houses to rent in Sfax Ville, few in number but present.

Service charges, parking, contract

Three questions to ask before signing. The service charges: in recent residences, they cover the lift, the caretaker and sometimes the shared water, so ask how much they are and whether they are included in the rent. Parking: in the centre, a closed space is worth 50 to 100 DT a month on its own, and without one the evenings are long. The contract: a written agreement registered at the tax office, a deposit of one to two months, and the annual review clause in black and white. Many Sfax owners still let on a handshake; it is up to the tenant to ask for the paperwork. All categories together, the homes to rent in Sfax Ville also appear on a shared page.