Geoffrey Branger / Photo credit: AFP 10:36 am, May 20, 2023

A housing crisis has been affecting the France for several months. If real estate professionals are worried about their businesses, and consider that the country does not build enough, on the side of the French, housing prices, the increase in interest rates or the reluctance of banks to lend discourages potential buyers.

The Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CPME) will be received on Monday by Elisabeth Borne. The organization is due to talk to the Prime Minister about work, but it will also talk about the housing crisis. The CPME has proposals to make to contain it. How to explain this housing crisis, which has been talked about a lot in recent weeks?

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If we look at the professionals, we would not be building enough new housing. "We need the France to build a minimum of at least 350,000 homes. When we compare the Spanish and German markets, we build at half the cost price of France," explains Loïc Cantin, president of Fnaim, the National Real Estate Federation. "Of course, we can now build cheaper in France. But we must ask ourselves the question: how do we build tomorrow? It is not a short-term issue, it is a long-term issue, it is a forward-looking issue. We are only asking for this government to plan for the long term."

A crisis that mainly concerns the French

Concretely, professionals in the sector expect the government to take the full measure of the problem. Especially since with its buildings at half-mast, the French Building Federation announces that nearly 100,000 jobs are threatened. A whole sector is at a standstill. But if we do not build enough housing, it is also because buyers are not numerous, especially because of the difficulties in obtaining a mortgage.

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Because the housing crisis concerns not only professionals, but especially the French. Between the price of real estate which is very high, interest rates that are skyrocketing and in general the reluctance of banks to lend, the French who want to access housing are disillusioned. "Would it be possible to buy at this time? No," says a passer-by. "It's soaring, you can't buy anything if there is at least €10,000 of income per month," said another.

"You'd have to win the lottery" to buy a home

"I could buy with the help of banks, but they are very reluctant to grant loans," admits another passer-by at the microphone of Europe 1. "The rates are very high, so at the moment, we have put the projects on standby," regrets a young woman who wanted to buy. "We gave up and it's not possible. We should really win the Lotto for once, "adds another.

According to experts, without significant and rapid changes, this situation could continue to harden and last until the end of the year.