professionals are firmly awaiting Michel Barnier’s government

The new government is expected at the turning point by real estate construction professionals. The Batimat show began on Monday at Porte de Versailles in Paris, at a time when the industry is going through a major crisis.

According to figures communicated by the government, at the end of August, the number of housing projects started stood at just 270,000, or 67,000 less over one year, roughly -20% compared to the same period of 2023. In question, according to professionals, the difficulties in obtaining a building permit, the high interest rates which dissuade households who can, from investing in real estate, the inflation of the cost of materials (+30% for cement prices; +25% for steel), and certain environmental constraints.

The ZAN law (zero net artificialization of land), for example, a legislative rule imposed on municipalities, reduces the number of land available. Furthermore, the energy renovation of buildings sets very high standards, but comes up against the lack of means of households to undertake the work. Which plunges us into the problem of purchasing power.

While the living room Batimat show began Monday September 30, Porte de Versailles, in Paris,Professionals are expecting immediate measures within the framework of the 2025 Finance Bill that the new government is currently developing. Among other things, the extended zero rate to allow households, particularly the most modest, to access property or the extension of the Pinel system which provides for a tax reduction on the purchase price of housing provided that it is rented out.

As for social measures, they are necessary because 500,000 construction professionals will retire by 2030 and the sector is struggling to recruit the necessary workforce, which is reducing productivity. It is on these different fundamental points that the State is called upon to act.

Nothing will be fixed with the wave of a magic wand and construction professionals know that the state coffers are empty. Rather than asking for money that no longer exists, or obtaining sweeping promises, what professionals want above all is stability and regularity in the decisions taken by the State. . This desired stability for the return to confidence represents a heavy mission for the new Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Valérie Létard.