The number of building permits continued to decrease in January with 369,300 new housing units authorized over one year, a drop over 12 months of 23.4%, according to provisional figures from the Minister of Ecological Transition published on Friday.
In January 2024, housing authorizations decrease and stand at 31,800 (-1% compared to December). In total, from February 2023 to January 2024, 369,300 housing units were authorized for construction, i.e. 113,000 fewer than in the previous twelve months (-23.4%) and 19.9% less than in the twelve months preceding the health crisis (March 2019 February 2020). This is the lowest total since the start of the series in 2000, explains the minister.
The estimated number of construction sites started, which traditionally follows that of permits by a few months, would be down with 291,100 construction starts over 12 months, a drop of 24.6%. The reduction in authorizations concerns all types of housing: pure individual (- 33.1%), individual group including subdivisions (- 15.5%), and collective (- 21.1%).
These statistics reflect a deep crisis in construction as in the entire housing sector, due to a fall in demand linked to the drastic tightening of borrowing conditions, investors’ disinterest in rental investment, considered less profitable, but also the increase in construction costs and land prices.
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