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Small pensions, booming real estate… the life annuity attracts more and more French people every year. Is it still a good deal for the buyer? What are the risks for the seller?
Buying a dwelling occupied by an elderly person and waiting for their death to be able to take advantage of it, this is the principle of life annuity, which is in full swing. Small pensions, soaring real estate… nearly 10,000 retirees sold their life annuity homes in 2021, a figure increasing by 10% per year. It allows some to stay at home, in complete autonomy, and others to realize some of their dreams.
In Vendée, Vincent, 77, has put his house up for sale. In life. Nathalie, 50, manager of a driving school, is going to buy it. She will pay him a “bouquet” of 25,000 euros and a monthly pension of 570 euros until his death. They both see this transaction as “an exchange, a transfer of power“Vincent will be able to take advantage of his retirement to travel…
An attractive investment
The life annuity has become an attractive investment for wealthy buyers, because to buy a life annuity, you have to pay cash. Pascal, 52, started buying life in 2017. He now owns four properties and is going to visit a fifth. An investment he sees as “risk management“, intended to increase its heritage. The prices of the life annuity are calculated from the Daubry scale, an estimate of the seller’s life expectancy. But suspicion weighs on buyers because the shadow of the abuse of weakness hovers still on the life annuity…
A report by Adrian Jaouen, broadcast in “Special Envoy” on May 19, 2022.
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