Each morning, Axel de Tarlé decrypts one of the most important economic news of the day. On Wednesday, he looks at the new appeal for medium-sized cities.
Medium-sized cities have been battered in recent years with a fully two-speed real estate market.
The big cities have experienced a meteoric rise in prices. In 20 years, prices in Lyon have soared 200%, they have tripled. In Bordeaux, they have increased by 250% for real estate in 20 years. Conversely, in medium-sized cities (cities between 100 and 200 000 inhabitants) where prices are falling and therefore we are getting into aberrations.
With a budget of 100,000 euros, you can afford a 85m2 in Limoges or Bourges a 100m2 in Mulhouse, or a 110m2 in Saint-Etienne. However, with the same budget, you will have a studio of 25m2 in Lyon or Bordeaux or a broom closet of 10m2 in Paris. Impossible to live, to raise a family in these conditions.
Would there be a revenge for medium-sized towns?
A survey by HSBC shows that all over the world, big cities are saturating and we are indeed witnessing the beginning of an inverted outflow. More than one owner in ten makes the choice to leave these big cities to move to smaller, more humane cities. The motivations are very clear: fleeing pollution, traffic jams and stress to find a bigger home with a garden to raise his children.
But still there is work to be found since employment is concentrated in the big cities
Companies, too, are experiencing the same housing difficulties. In big cities, the price of offices is out of control. So businesses also dream of medium-sized cities, with more affordable real estate. And what changes especially is the technology. Internet makes it possible to work, to organize oneself at a distance. The New 5G allows videoconferences in hologram or total immersion in 3D.
This movement is also encouraged by building professionals from across Europe who have come together in an organization, Buid Europe, who have just published a manifesto for the European elections.
Their credo: re-invest medium-sized cities which, they say, can very easily connect to the world of work, provided there is good infrastructure in technology and transport. So, indeed, we are perhaps at the beginning of what could look like a historic turnaround in real estate: the revenge of the average cities.