Housing in France has fallen in price in 2024, but this is not enough to warm up the market.

The French real estate market ends 2024 in an uncertain situation, despite signs of stabilization after two years of marked decline.Indeed, the figures recently published by the French Notary Chamber indicate an ambivalent state of affairs: prices for apartments and houses fell, but this decrease was not enough to resume sales. In the past year, the number of transactions has sharply decreased, which indicates a serious stagnation in the sector. 

In 2024, only 750,000 transactions were recorded in France. This is significantly less than 1.2 million in 2021. 

Compared to 2023, there was a 17% decrease in sales due to a number of unfavorable factors.Among them, the political instability that followed the dissolution of Parliament in June 2024 played a key role.Priscilla Kenyo, a notary and member of the Supreme Council of Notaries, argues that "instability has forced market participants to take a defensive position."Cooling affects all segments, whether it's old housing, new buildings or land plots.

Despite the fact that real estate prices fell by an average of 3.9%, and interest rates on 20-year loans reached a relatively low level of 3.15%, these favorable factors were not enough to restore demand.Households continue to be very cautious in the face of ongoing uncertainty. 

A joint study by Insee and the Bank of France also highlights the continued decline in the value of household assets by 0.9% compared to 2023, to 14,567 billion euros.This decline in wealth reflects not only the loss of value of real estate assets, but also economic instability, which hinders the recovery of the market.

Source: Coin Tribune