In a central street of the small tourist town of Dinan, in Brittany, the shop window and its photos still sell the French suburban dream. But behind her computer, Céline (her first name has been changed), sales representative for this brand specializing in individual homes, paints a gloomy picture of construction, seen from her store. “In 2021, I sold 32 houses, then only 12 in 2022, and there, I have only one house to do since the beginning of 2023. So I haven’t started my year yet, for sale, unfortunately. » At the same time, the first price offered by this network for the construction of a house (excluding land) has gone from 120,000 euros before the health crisis linked to Covid-19, to 170,000 euros today.
These figures summarize the current crisis in the construction of single-family homes, seized up, like all new real estate since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022. “The war caused an energy crisis and a very sharp rise in the price of materials. The French always want a large accommodation, outdoor spaces, so a house. But the cost price has increased enormously, by more than 20% in one year”says Damien Hereng, president of the French Federation of Individual Home Builders.
The household budget was dented by the increase in interest rates offered by the banks. Since the summer of 2022, credit institutions have passed on the tightening of monetary policy that the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to fight against galloping inflation, at work since the start of the war in Ukraine. “Funding becomes the number one problemestimates Loïc Vandromme, the general manager of the Hexaôm group, the French leader in the construction of individual houses. It is not only the higher rates which are in question, but the conditions of access to credit, the refusal of banks to lend. »
Small players in the weakened sector
Less budget and more expensive goods… In 2022, the new home market (excluding housing estates) fell ” violently “ more than 30%, “and even 38.2% in the last quarteris alarmed the housing division of the French Building Federation. This is the worst exercise in the last sixteen years..
And this would only be the beginning, according to the profession. The leader Hexaôm anticipates the decline of the single-family home market. “It is certain, in the future, we will remain under the bar of 100,000 houses built per year, whereas during the last ten years, we reached 125,000says Loïc Vandromme. And the year 2023 will be worse than 2022, because new housing will cost more and more, with the rising cost of materials and land. »
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