The rate of the housing savings plan, well known by the acronym PEL, is increasing in 2024. An increase that only concerns new openings! Do you have a real estate loan project but no PEL? Or do you have a PEL that only earns you 1% or 2%? Overview, case by case.
Gone are the days when the home savings plan was a godsend, to the point of being described as an anomaly, because the rate was too high, by the governor of the Bank of France. In 2024, it displays a gross yield of 2.25%, which amounts to a little less than 1.58% netafter flat tax 30% (social security contributions 17.2% + income tax 12.8%).
Faced with a Livret A blocked all year round at 3%, faced with a popular savings booklet soon to be 4% and dust, accessible in one in two households, faced with an LDDS modeled on the rate of the Livret A… the PEL does not not the weight!
But, because there is still a but, the housing savings plan still has a few tricks up its sleeve. And which make it a separate product in the range of regulated savings: compulsory payments, a practical tool to force yourself to put money aside; the fact of being blocked, an argument for the youngest, for example; access to home savings loans, while real estate rates are brushing against the peak line; and above all the fact that its remuneration rate is guaranteed throughout the life of the plan. So 10 15 years! Certainly, 2.25% gross, therefore 1.58% net, is not much in 2024. But perhaps it will be an excellent deal in 2027 or 2030… Who knows.
So who is interested in opening a PEL in 2024, or reopening one if you already have a plan? The answer varies from all to all depending on the situation.
If you don’t have a PEL…
Considering the credit rates, the PEL loan rate is attractive. The PEL is only interesting for obtaining loans as it stands.
What interest? Take a date, as bank advisors say so well for life insurance. In the short term, the PEL has very little interest in the face of competition from regulated savings accounts. The economist Philippe Crevel, director of the Cercle de l’Épargne, summed it up in mid-December.
No short-term interest on the savings side: At 2.25%, the PEL remains less attractive than the Livret A or the LDDS. It is also less than term deposits or life insurance euro funds. But a long-term interest, by 2027, for the housing savings loan: The PEL gives access to housing loans, the amount of which depends on the interest accumulated. (…) Given the rates [de crdit], that of the PEL is attractive. The PEL is currently only useful for obtaining loans. For a loan by 2027, or after, therefore. Knowing that by then the 2.25% will perhaps also be interesting on the savings side.
If you have a 2% PEL opened in 2023
- Savings rate: 2% gross
- Taxation: flat tax, 30%
- Home savings loan rate: 3.20%
What interest? Close your PEL open in 2023 to reopen one in 2024? Certainly, a subtlety means that you will not lose your 2% (because the CEL is at the same rate) despite an early closing, but is that really interesting? Not sure. Because the main advantage of your PEL currently remains to serve as an additional loan for a future real estate loan or to provide you with a competitive rate works loan, 3.20%, compared to 3.45% in the event of reopening in 2024.
PEL loan right: everything you need to know about the loan linked to the housing savings plan
If you have a 1% PEL opened between 2018 and 2022
- Savings rate: 1% gross
- Taxation: flat tax, 30%
- Home savings loan rate: 2.20%
What interest? The same arguments, further reinforced, as for the 2% PEL of 2023: your 1% PEL opened a few years ago had all the burden of asset management. But ultimately, this could be a godsend: this 2.20% is currently almost unbeatable as a loan attached to real estate financing or as a works loan! Two caveats, however: provided that your bank does not put obstacles in your way, on the one hand. And given the low savings rate, your loan rights may only offer you a small amount of possible borrowing, on the other hand.
Real estate credit: this forgotten booklet becomes a good plan for your work again
If you have a 1% PEL opened at the end of 2016 or in 2017
- Savings rate: 1%
- Taxation: 17.2% social security contributions, income tax exemption until 12 years of PEL
- Home savings loan rate: 2.20%
What interest? Again. You have an investment in your financial portfolio offering you a 2.20% credit, an unbeatable rate currently on the loan side. The icing on the cake: your PEL (open before the entry into force of the flat tax reform of the first Macron government) is not yet subject to income tax, which gives 0.83% net and not 0.70% as for plans opened in 2018-2022. Reopen in 2024, under these conditions? Low interest…
If you have a PEL 1.50% from the beginning of 2016
- Savings rate: 1.50% gross
- Taxation: 17.2% social security contributions, income tax exemption until 12 years of PEL
- Home savings loan rate: 2.70%
What interest? The difference in savings rates is starting to be felt compared to the 2.25% of the new plans. But taxation changes the situation: your PEL brings you around 1.24% net since it is still exempt from tax, compared to only 1.58% for the new 2024 plans, which are subject to flat tax from the first opening year.
If you have a 2% PEL opened in 2015
- Savings rate: 2% gross
- Taxation: 17.2% social security contributions, income tax exemption until 12 years of PEL
- Home savings loan rate: 3.20%
What interest? None, move on. Your PEL earns you 1.66% net of social security contributions. Better than the 1.58% of the new PEL 2024 subject to the flat tax! And the PEL loan rate is more competitive for this generation of PEL 2015.
If you have a 2.50% PEL opened after February 2011
- Savings rate: 2.50% gross
- Taxation: 17.2% social security contributions, income tax exemption until 12 years of PEL
- Lifespan: 15 years maximum (10 years of savings, 5 years of waiting)
- Home savings loan rate: 4.20%
What interest? it depends… If you opened it at the end of 2011, for example, your PEL will now be subject to flat tax, like the new PELs. But the rates are close… so everything depends on your short or medium term projects. On the other hand, if you opened it in 2014 for example, you are still exempt from tax for 2 years, therefore 2.07% net, which is still better than the new PEL.
If you have a PEL 2.50% before March 2011
- Savings rate: 2.50% gross
- Taxation: flat tax, 30%, because your PEL is now more than 12 years old!
- Lifespan: as long as you want
- Home savings loan rate: 4.20%
What interest? Your PEL is certainly subject to flat tax, like the new plans, but you are one of the lucky ones who have a PEL paying 2.50% gross, or 1.75% net… without any expiration date. Unless you need short-term money, breaking your PEL is therefore not really in your interest.
If you have an old PEL more than 3%
- Savings rate: 3.60% more than 5% gross depending on the case
- Taxation: flat tax, 30%
- Lifespan: as long as you want
- Home savings loan rate: too high to be interesting
What interest? A very high remuneration rate, even in 2024, and guaranteed, remains a godsend. Unless you need money in the short term, you probably have no interest in breaking your old plan.
Shall we summarize?
Open one in 2024 if you don’t have one yet? Why not.
Reopen one? Why not, but, on closer inspection, the interest is rarely obvious. In short: avoid breaking an old, well-paid PEL. Or to break a PEL offering you a good credit rate.