Government housing plan: “No electroshock is to be expected”, deplore real estate professionals

2023-06-05 12:34:43

Rarely has a government plan met with so much unanimity…against it. This Monday afternoon, Elisabeth Borne will present the measures that the executive has planned to support housing. Most have already been unveiled. Two measures have caught the attention of real estate and housing professionals: the end of Pinel, a tax exemption scheme, which expires in 2025, and the maintenance of the PTZ (zero rate loan) but refocused on tense areas (cities where demand is greater than supply, editor’s note) and new collective housing.

Two measures that are likely to get housing out of the crisis or, failing that, to revive the sector? The profession is far from enthusiastic. Quite the contrary. It must be said that the disappointment lives up to the expectations aroused by the plan accommodation. For several months, experts in real estate and housing have indeed ceased to sound the alarm. They even had to wait another month because these measures should have been announced in May. “We bury social access to property and we ignore the territories. We are not disappointed since we had hoped for nothing for a few days“, enrages Yannick Borde, president of Provicis (promotion, individual house, social housing) who denounces a “strictly budgetary vision and no strategic vision».

Not enough to revive the housing market, according to the profession which has suffered the brunt of the downturn in the real estate market and which is worried about the coming months. “No electroshock is to be expecteddeplores Grégory Monod, president of SOGIMM Immobilier, a property developer. On the contrary, it would be a question of sinking even further into the crisis by sacrificing access to property for 60% of households and 93% of municipalities via the refocusing of the PTZ. Staggering and incomprehensible!»

The disappointment is also on the side of the building. “For the first time (since 1986)the PTZ is removed (for individual housing). It’s a big disappointment. Pinel is going to die a beautiful death. If fellow citizens do not have a small carrot and a return on investment, given inflation, they will go elsewhere“, denounces on Europe 1 the president of the French Federation of the building Olivier Salleron who affirms that the Pinel is not a “tax niche” but one “tax benefit which has the virtue of accommodating modest and very modest fellow citizens».

Tax measures “which are expensive”

Few, on the other hand, approve of this type of measure. “This is political courage!reacted Guillaume Fonteneau, independent wealth management advisor. For 15 years, we have been saying that we must stop these tax measures which fuel the rise in prices and which are expensive.” For him, housing is not in crisis. “Prices have risen too much because of too low credit rates, for too long. Let the market adjust“. Pierre Madec, economist at the OFCE (French Observatory of Economic Conditions) is not far from agreeing. “Removing the Pinel is a good thing in itself because this device has proven that it was not effective and that its cost per dwelling (more than 44,000 euros per year) is very high. Provided that the savings generated are reallocated elsewhere to support housing. Otherwise, this plan will be ineffective.»