The prospect of a “more nuanced” second half of 2022
At the national level, transactions stabilized at the end of the first half at a high level, according to the network of real estate agencies Laforêt. But “some indicators are marking time and suggest the possibility of a more nuanced second half,” he says.
This will depend on several parameters. First, the appetite of the French for real estate. “We are already seeing a return of families to the city center apartment market. Rising prices in rural and peri-urban areas, combined with rising energy prices, could weigh on demand,” observes the Laforêt network.
Then, the question of funding. “Faced with ever more restrictive loan granting conditions and interest rates which are rising and could exceed 2%, or even 3%, the French are suffering the double penalty. Some will have no choice but to postpone their acquisition project,” he considers.
Finally, the role of new regulations on the energy performance of goods. “Schedule that puts landlords under pressure, insufficient public aid, rising material prices… The ambition of the legislator around the energy renovation of thermal sieves comes up against numerous obstacles and seems, in its deadlines, totally unrealistic. For lack of sufficient resources, the energy transition risks aggravating the real estate shortage,” worries Laforêt.
Regarding the rise in real estate prices, Jean-Marc Torrollion, president of the National Real Estate Federation (Fnaim), interviewed by Agence France-Presse, thinks that the dynamic “is nevertheless in the process of being reversed, weaken, quite naturally because buyers are much more attentive than they were a year ago”.