Taxation is still heavier for property owners. About ten days ago, the government acted on 49.3 to adopt the 2023 budget. This notably validated two amendments which risk making owners cringe. The first targets the housing surcharge for second homes, which concerns towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants where the demand for housing is greater than the supply (strained areas). For 5 years, eligible cities can increase this tax between 5% and 60% (against a rate of 20% until 2017). This is the case for 1136 municipalities in total.
After the adoption of an amendment tabled by Renaissance MP Xavier Roseren, this quota will increase by around 4,000. The list of new eligible cities will be detailed by decree. However, this does not mean that 4000 municipalities will increase the housing tax for second homes. In 2022, only 22.4% of municipalities authorized to increase it (i.e. 255 communities), have done so. And 20.5% in 2021. Currently, 73 cities have applied the maximum increase of 60%. Among them, many big cities like Paris, Lyon, Marseille or Bordeaux but also seaside resorts like Anglet, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz or Saint-Nazaire. France has nearly 3.7 million second homes (i.e. 9.9% of the total housing stock), according to INSEE, compared to 2.3 million in 1982. More than three quarters of them (77%) located in “a municipality outside the urban unit” Where “in an urban unit of less than 100,000 inhabitants“. On the coast or in the mountains, more precisely.
115 million euros for the tax on empty housing
The second amendment concerns vacant homes which are just over 3 million (8.3% of the housing stock) in France against 1.9 million 40 years ago. The deputies adopted an increase in the tax rate on these empty goods, which goes from 12.5% to 17% for the first year of vacancy, and from 25% to 34% for the following years. The General Directorate of Public Finance, which depends on Bercy, collected “only” 115 million euros in 2021. A dwelling is said to be vacant if this property, located in a tense area, has been unoccupied for at least a year, according to the law. But what their detractors forget is that not all vacant units are there voluntarily. Some are empty because “awaiting succession settlement», «offered for sale or rental” but do not find takers or “retained by an employer for future use by an employee“, according to INSEE. To this list it will no doubt be necessary to add the dwellings “in progressto improve their energy performance or even because landlords fear unpaid rent.
» Discover our practical works to better manage your real estate (rental, sale, purchase, SCI, life annuity, work, etc.) here .