Sales of new detached houses are at their lowest level in twenty years

Watch out, falling rocks! Sales of detached houses, which traditionally represent more than half of the French new housing market, continue their downward spiral. From January to the end of July, builders sold only 65,000 houses, according to estimates by Caron Marketing for the French Home Builders Union (UMF). " We could end 2013 with 106,000 houses sold , compared to 126,000 in 2012, a 13% decrease in one year, which is an optimistic estimate ," says UMF President Christian Louis-Victor. " You have to go back to the early 1990s to find a level this low."

The decline is ongoing but seems to be stabilizing at around -15%, after -16% in 2012, which was already the sixth consecutive year of decline. "Are we at rock bottom?" he continues. " The primary problem is social access to homeownership: it's in dire straits! "

Traditionally less expensive than developer housing, the detached house, located in a peri-urban or rural area where land is cheap, was par excellence the product of young people and modest households. But today, first-time buyers, those who are becoming homeowners for the first time, represent only 33% of sales compared to 50% in 2010. This is due to the economic situation but also to the reformulation of homeownership assistance: the tightening of the conditions for granting the zero-interest loan plus (PTZ+), which has been refocused on the most modest, has led to under-consumption and the number of PTZ+ grants has collapsed, falling from more than 300,000 three years ago to 80,000 in 2012 and "30,000 to 35,000 expected this year against a government target of 55,000" , observes Philippe Petiot, deputy managing director of Crédit Foncier.

Another reason for the collapse in sales is the sharp rise in prices. While they only increased by an average of 1.5% per year from 2003 to 2012, "significantly less than the prices of existing properties, the additional cost of 8% to 15% resulting from the implementation of the low-energy building (BBC) standard on January 1, 2013, has led to an average price increase of 4.5% since January ^, " explains Christian Louis-Victor. " This has excluded some households from the bank loan market who previously would have had access to it." In response, living spaces have shrunk compared to the average house size of 118 m² ⁱⁿ 2012.

The sales slump has not affected all regions equally: the hardest hit are Languedoc (-30% over the twelve months ending in July), the Greater Southwest, the West, and Brittany. "Gironde, Aquitaine, and Toulouse were traditionally very dynamic ," notes the president of the UMF. " There, the market now mainly consists of second homes, built for retirement."

Source: Les Echos