The Century21 and Orpi real estate networks on Monday delivered their assessment for the year 2021. A sector which is not suffering from the health crisis, quite the contrary, but which penalizes the less affluent profiles. There have never been as many transactions as in 2021 and they have never been so high.
2021, the year of records
In 2021, the price per square meter continued to climb (+ 7.4% for houses, and + 5.3% for apartments) throughout France, judged the network of real estate agencies Century 21 in a report published on Monday. The increase is particularly strong in Nouvelle-Aquitaine for houses (+ 13.2%) and in Brittany for apartments (+ 21.4%). But that’s not all, in 2021, the real estate market also displayed records on the number of transactions and the average amount of sales, or 267,524euros for houses and 227,897euros on average for apartments.
Very high figures which can be explained in particular by the tightness of the real estate market and low borrowing rates. To finance their acquisitions, households make the most of all the levers of credit. The average loan period has reached its highest levels (21.1 years against 21 years in 2020). The observation is identical for the financing quota obtained by borrowing (81.8% against 80.5% in 2020).
Can this situation last? Indeed, the High Council of Financial Stability (HCSF) has decided to tighten the rules of real estate credit on January 1, 2022. To simplify, no more than 25 years of credit just like loans granted to households with a debt ratio exceeding 35%. Banks can only waive these rules for a limited number (20% of cases) of borrowers. This new framework risks benefiting buyers with a substantial budget and a high standard of living.
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2021, young private purchases
The problem with this price increase according to Century 21 is that it penalizes the lowest income households and the youngest categories. The branch network is thus observing a decline in these categories in purchasing, in particular in le-de-France. Young people or households with the lowest incomes have no other choice than to reduce the surface areas or to buy further from the big cities, assured Laurent Vimont.
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And what penalizes them in the first place is the contribution expected by the banks. According to Century 21, in the second half of 2021, it amounted to 32,153 euros on average for an average loan of 247,499 euros.
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2021, the search for a house with a garden
With an average budget of 226,824 euros according to Orpi, the 2021 buyer wanted to increase his living space and targeted properties with a garden, on one level or even with a swimming pool, depending on the region. An exterior (terrace, balcony) was also a major criterion in the context of the acquisition of an apartment.
What is sought after are houses of around 120 m2, with a garden of just over 100 m2. No more, explained at the end of the year Eric Allouche, executive director of ERA Immobilier, MoneyVox. But the very strong demand for this type of property has often forced buyers to lower their ambitions, buy without negotiating the price, or even move away from city centers in order to be able to afford a property with a little space.
Real estate prices: are Parisians the kings of oil in the provinces?
2021: Paris falls but remains part
Incredible: in 2021, the price per m2 in Paris has fallen by more than 2%, to 10,367 euros on average. Nonetheless, prices remain very high: buyers are forced to reduce their claims and the average surface area of the goods acquired decreases (-3.7m2 in one year) to drop below 50m2. the average amount of an acquisition reflects this: it is down -6.8% over one year and is established 511700euros all the same.
Unsurprisingly, two socio-professional categories dominate the Parisian market: senior executives and liberal professions (42.5% of the market, even if their share has fallen by -9.2%) as well as middle executives (41.4% of buyers), Century21 explains. The share of the latter continues to grow (+ 6.2%), however less quickly than withdrawals, which saw their proportion increase by + 15.3% over one year to represent 8.3% of transactions in Paris.