The Covid-19 crisis has amplified the phenomenon of rising property prices in certain already very popular spots, such as in Biarritz.
Senior executives who can telecommute no longer hesitate to come and set up their main residence on the Atlantic coast.
The rise in prices has also been sustained since the start of the crisis in Loire-Atlantique and Brittany, even if prices remain even more accessible there.
The Atlantic coast is on the rise, headlines the latest study by the Se Loger group, concerning the soaring prices on the Atlantic coast.
The alert rating is even reached in some places.
Of course, whether in Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) or La Baule (Loire-Atlantique), prices were already very high before the pandemic, and the phenomenon of real estate speculation is not new there.
But it seems that the Covid-19 crisis has amplified the phenomenon on certain spots which are already very popular.
An envelope of more than 400,000 euros on average for accommodation in Biarritz
Take Biarritz, one of the pearls of the Basque coast, the average price of a property there now stands at 433,287 euros, according to Se Loger estimates, an increase of 4% between the first half of 2020 and the first half of 2021, and of … 14% compared to the start of 2019, that is to say before the start of the epidemic.
A few kilometers away, Bayonne has experienced an increase of 10% in one year.
“In detail, continues the study, the budget to be spent for an apartment in Biarritz is now 393,362 euros (+ 13% over one year) and 742,456 euros for a single house, or ... + 26% between the 1st semester 2019 and the 1st semester 2021!
"
Social tensions
In another study, the real estate group Barnes points to a market with “insolent” dynamism on the whole of the Basque coast, with an increase of 17% between July 2020 and July 2021. In Guéthary for example, a village of 1,300 inhabitants , prices now reach 7,400 euros per m2.
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Philippe Thomine Desmazures, associate director of Barnes Côte Basque, alert on
“The asymmetry between an increasingly substantial demand and the sharp decrease in supply, which generates certain social tensions, in particular against Parisians, who, like real estate agencies, have become the scapegoats for the situation.
Last spring, inscriptions "The Basque Country is not for sale" had flourished on the fronts of some real estate agencies on the coast.
"A population of senior executives who can telework"
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, Maud Cascino, assistant to town planning, housing and habitat at the town hall, recalls that "Biarritz has always had a very high real estate price" but confirms that "it has been accelerating since the Covid crisis, we see a lot of people from the Paris region, and other big cities, who come to settle here ”.
"It is rather a population of senior executives who can telework, and who come to establish their main residence on the Basque coast," continues the elected.
And these people are able to set a crazy price, since we now reach more than 10,000 euros per square meter in certain neighborhoods, including Bibi Beaurivage and Les Halles, even if the outbreak is now affecting all neighborhoods.
"
Only 11% social housing
The scarcity of land also accentuates the phenomenon.
If the municipality recalls that the coastal law "is a very good thing" it stresses that it places constraints on construction, as well as "the noise exposure plan due to the presence of an aerodrome , and the remarkable heritage site.
In all, around 50% of the city's territory would thus be unbuildable.
“Despite everything, we must be able to accommodate the Biarrots, because there is real tension.
Our agents at the town hall are obliged to go to Tarnos (Landes), or even further afield, which is why we are going to build, in particular on Aguiléra, ”assures the deputy.
Today, the city only offers 11% social housing, a far cry from the 25% imposed by the SRU law.
“Our goal is to increase this share, but we will never reach this 25% because of the delay that has been taken and the constraints.
"
The difficult fight against the Airbnb phenomenon
The Airbnb phenomenon has hit the nail on the head, knowing that the city "attracts a lot of people during the holidays, even more since the start of the crisis". "We have a lot of people who come to invest, this completely burdens the market" laments the elected official. A decree taken by the agglomeration now limits owners "to a single rental accommodation" but it is easily bypassed, since the SCI are not concerned. “We want to develop this system, and from next year we also want to introduce compensation, that is to say that for each Airbnb accommodation, the owner will have to market a conventional rental accommodation. The elected estimate at around 3,000 the number of accommodation solely devoted to seasonal rental in Biarritz.
The only good news: the transfer taxes that the city receives [ie 1.2% of the amount of a real estate transaction] are mathematically only increasing.
Between 2020 and 2021, they increased by 18%, knowing that “2020 was already a record year with + 17%.
"
Also on the Breton coast, which remains more affordable
Further north, in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), prices have also increased since the start of the pandemic, with + 6%
between the first semester of 2020 and that of 2021,
and + 18% compared to the start of 2019. The average price of an apartment was close to 285,000 euros at the end of the first semester, while for a house, the envelope reached 378,000 euros.
In La Baule (Loire-Atlantique), prices increased by 14% between the first half of 2019 and that of 2021, while they increased by 6.6% in Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique), and by 11 , 4% in Brest (Finistère) in one year. "With the French more than ever looking for large spaces near large cities, the property market on the Breton coast is doing well" confirms a study by Meilleur Agents. “Despite a sharp increase in property prices (+ 7.2% in one year and + 13.5% in two years), the Breton coasts remain the most affordable French coast. "
Even if the prices are indeed more reasonable there than on the Basque coast, things are starting to heat up seriously in some resorts.
“For the second year in a row, with an average price of 5,179 euros per m2, Trinité-sur-Mer (Morbihan) is the most expensive seaside resort in the region ahead of Carnac (Morbihan, € 4,605 / m²) and Dinard (Ille -et-Vilaine, 4,580 € / m²) ”points in particular to Best Agents.
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