This is “the first increase in the housing savings plan for 22 years”, specifies the Ministry of the Economy.
The rate of remuneration of housing savings plans (PEL) signed from next January will double to 2%, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on Thursday. Minister Bruno Le Maireannounces the revaluation to 2%, against 1% today, of home savings plans (PEL) opened from January 1, 2023“, Indicates a press release from Bercy. “This is a new support for French savings after the rise in Livret A rates“At 2% since August 1, completes Bruno Le Maire, quoted in the press release.
The PEL is a hybrid product: it is used to build up savings intended for the purchase of real estate or the carrying out of work, then to finance this project. It therefore displays two rates: a first defining the remuneration of the savings deposited there (1% gross since August 1, 2016) and a second blocking a borrowing rate, 1.20% higher (since February 1 2015), for the next 15 years. At the end of 2021, the number of PELs stood at 12.2 million, according to data from the Banque de France, for a total outstanding amount of 296.1 billion euros. It is also “the first increase in the PEL rate for 22 years“, specifies the ministry.
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The new rate will only concern PELs opened in 2023. Unlike other regulated products such as the Livret A, the rates of a PEL remain those in force on the day of signature, allowing the holder to “to block” a rate. The Minister followed the recommendation of the Governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, in charge of calculating the new rate each year by December 5 at the latest. Due to their borrowing rate of 2.20%, PELs signed before the end of 2022 could also become attractive for financing medium-term credit. The real estate market has been confronted since the beginning of the year with a rapid rise in borrowing rates, in the wake of the key rates of the European Central Bank (ECB): from 1.10% on average at the end of last December to 1, 84% expected in November, at the latest score from the Banque de France.