Sn the front of this real estate agency in Piriac-sur-Mer (Loire-Atlantique), the photo of a beautiful stone house is crossed out with the “sold immediately” banner. Translation by Yannick Fleury? “That means she left in one day,” says the property seller. And it’s like that almost every time. “I have to redo my window every fortnight,” she continues, facing the thirty or so “for sale” signs hung facing the street.
It’s a fact, advertisements for a pied-à-terre in this town on the Guérande peninsula have a very limited lifespan. It is therefore better to be reactive and, above all, to have a well-stocked wallet. Because here, the square meter does not trade below 4,000 euros, minimum. “Today, we are on the prices of La Baule”, notes Yannick Fleury, who has already carried out transactions in the very chic seaside resort, about twenty kilometers away. Who, suddenly, can afford such an investment without a considerable contribution and, above all, in the face of buyers who, most often, “pay cash”? Obviously not the young locals. The famous stone “house of character”? “I had five visits, no premises”, assures Mme Fleury.
The mayor’s dismay
And that’s how Piriac now has 69% second homes. As for those who have the means to establish their main address here after having sold their previous home (well), they are most often retirees. A double consequence which plunges the mayor into great disarray. “We would like to have young people who settle in our territory to live and work, it would be good for our schools and our businesses, underlines Jean-Claude Ribault. But land is so expensive that they cannot buy a piece of land, which is becoming increasingly rare. This is a big concern, especially for the first deputy in charge of schools. The deputy in question is Loïc Chesnel, and every year he carefully scrutinizes local demography as one watches the waves that gnaw at the coast. “Before each start of the school year, I wonder if we will succeed in keeping the workforce in place. We have six primary classes, four of which are public. We are not yet down to the student, but in the event of a professional transfer of several parents, this can result in fewer children, because it is not always families who then arrive in place. »
This situation is not reserved for Piriac, far from it. From the Loire estuary to Finistère via the Gulf of Morbihan, the entire coastline of Loire-Atlantique and Brittany is affected by this reality: the closer you get to the sea, the lower the prices. are affordable for locals. The latter find themselves forced to retreat inland, thus moving away from their place of work or their territory of origin. Result, “the cities are completely dead, gets carried away Ewan Thébaud, spokesperson for the collective Dispac’h (revolt in Breton). When you have municipalities that have between 50 and 70% of second homes occupied mainly in summer, more than half of the houses are closed in winter! We have a social fabric that is crumbling, public services that are closing, and all of this has consequences for the sustainable development of the territories. For the militant group, which also calls for demonstrations this Saturday in Quiberon, solutions exist to counter this monopolization of square meters. The classification of Brittany as a tight zone to tax second homes more, or the creation of a Breton resident status which would give priority access to housing on premises. Enough to suddenly burst the real estate bubble, according to Ewan Thébaud: “this would mechanically lower prices since people outside will no longer be able to buy”.
READ ALSOSecond homes: the appeal of the open sea
A recurring wish, expressed for a long time by several independence parties, but which the president of Brittany, Loïg Chesnais-Girard, had rejected during the last regional campaign, in June 2021, describing it as “ineffective and dangerous”. “It is not up to an administration to decide who is Breton or not,” added the elected official.
In the meantime, this summer, and like every year, the population will be multiplied by ten in several dozen coastal towns such as Piriac. And like every year, more than half of the shutters will close in the fall, only to reopen the following spring.