The chances of repayment of loans for social landlords will be extended to adapt to the recent doubling of the rate of the Livret A, whose main mission is to finance social housing, said Wednesday Eric Lombard, director general of the Caisse des depots ( CDC).
The Livret rate went from 0.5% to 1% on February 1. The last pay rise for the Livret A dated back to August 2011, when it went from 2 to 2.25%. Its rate has only stagnated or fallen since then, falling in February 2020 to 0.50%, a historic low.
As CDC loan rates are notably indexed to that of the Livret A, the rise in the latter in fact increases the rate at which the Caisse des Dépts lends to social landlords.
The recent rise in the rate may cause concern among social housing organizations and we are aware of it, admitted Eric Lombard, heard before the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.
This financial constraint is obviously not good news for the sector but can be managed and it is not who limits the pace of construction, he said.
Like each evolution – even if the evolutions on the rise, it has been a very long time since we had one – we automatically adapt the chances of reimbursement by what we call the double reviewabilityso that this increase in the interest rate does not weigh too much on the finances of social housing, he indicated, specifying that nearly 140 billion loans were indexed on the rate of the booklet A.
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The impact on social housing costs is 700 million, but the impact on liquidity is around 250 million euros. So everything is done to spread the impact, so that social housing actors do not suffer too much, added Mr. Lombard.
We ensure that donors can continue not only to operate but also to build. This means that new social housing that is built will be financed on the basis of the new rate of the booklet A, but this can be managed by extending the duration of the loans, with new mechanisms, reiterated the director general.