How falling notary fees left a €500m hole for Paris City Hall

2023-08-17 17:23:52

The list of big losers real estate crisis is long. Of course, we think first of all of households, but also of real estate agents, brokers and developers. Classic! But not only. There remains another actor which we do not immediately think of and which is nevertheless very penalized: the departments. Who says “real estate crisis”, says “fall in sales”. Who says “drop in sales” says drop in transfer taxes, commonly called notary fees. Contrary to what one might think, this tax paid by the buyer when signing the deed of sale, does not go entirely into the pocket of the notaries. Quite the contrary. They only receive just over 1% of the price of the property against 4.5% for the departments (except for Indre where the rate is 3.8%).

After having soared by 129% for almost 10 years, transfer duties, which weigh 20% in the finances of the departments, are in the process of plummeting. The fall is spectacular: -12.5% ​​at the end of April, over one year, according to the association of the Departments of France. And almost all (87 out of 96) of the territories are affected (see the figures at the end of April on the map of France below). Among them, Paris is, unsurprisingly, the city where the shortfall is the highest. Here again, the tumble is impressive: more than 500 million euros less in the coffers of the mayor of Paris, according to The chained Duck who claims that the transfer duties brought 1.745 billion euros to the City in 2022.

Contacted by us to react to the assertions of the chained duck, the Town Hall hasn’t come back to us yet. But this abyssal hole would be consistent with the figure published by the Departments of France at the end of April: in Paris, the decline would thus be estimated at 346 million euros (-12.5% ​​over one year). For its part, the town hall of Paris, which puts forward the figure of 1.650 billion euros in transfer duties for 2022, had forecast a…virtual stability of these costs for 2023 (1.652 billion euros), in its budget guidelines report (page 9). A surprising forecast as the slump in sales has been at work for more than a year and a half. While uncertainties hover for 2024, the town hall of Paris plans an increase “prudent“of 1.5% of transfer duties for next year – the same for 2025 -, anticipating a number of sales”dynamic” more “stagnant or even falling prices».

A debt of 8 billion euros

This is enough to weigh down a little more the finances of the town hall of Paris whose debt, which is around 8 billion euros, continues to widen! For the Parisian opposition, it is the households that will pay for the broken pots. “As always, Anne Hidalgo will make Parisians pay, through taxes and debtenrages Rachida Dati, president of the Changer Paris group. With the downturn in the real estate market, the finances of Paris are in danger!“Parisians who have already had to swallow a staggering 52% increase in property tax. Unless they carry out energy renovation work. A tax carrot which has several downsides, in particular that of the complexity of renovating a property in Paris, especially if it is Haussmann.

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