To avoid the “risk of an economic, social and societal bomb”, the FNAIM and several real estate federations are asking Emmanuel Macron for an “electroshock” to relaunch the production of new housing.
“We cannot exempt ourselves from building 350,000 homes in France“, denounces the president of the FNAIM (National Federation of Real Estate) Loïc Cantin, on franceinfo this Monday. He is one of the signatories of an open letter from real estate professionals to the President of the Republic published this Monday on the Parisian website. They ask for “emergency measures for the French“after the postponement of the publication of the conclusions of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR).
>>> Housing crisis: building and real estate professionals appeal to Emmanuel Macron
franceinfo: Your letter speaks of a “risk of economic, social and societal bomb“Words are strong…
Loïc Cantin, president of the FNAIM: It was, first and foremost, Olivier Klein, Minister Delegate for Cities and Housing, who said that “housing was the future social bomb“. He is right, but we note that, behind, the actions are not at the rendezvous of the observation made. We were 200 actors to work for four months in the form of three working groups to submit proposals within the framework of the CNR. I am not saying that they were not heard, but, at the very least, we would have liked these proposals to be submitted on May 9. The conference was postponed to June 5. The media reported on this, but the professionals and the federations were not informed.
What is the first emergency?
We cannot exempt ourselves from building 350,000 homes in France and having these homes come onto the market. The problem is that new real estate is made very expensive and that it is largely hit and affected by interest rates. They were at 1% eighteen months ago and could reach 4% today. That is to say 25% reduction in the borrowing capacity of the French. An earthquake. There are new apartments that do not find takers, because they are affected by the inflation of raw materials and land, exorbitant administrative rules and the financing of social housing.
So you appeal not only to the state, but also to the banks?
Yes, the banks in all cases are venture capitalists. Interest rates are at such a high level that they reduce borrowing capacity. Real estate is no longer interesting. We have rates of return that are sometimes below the remuneration found on term accounts. We need to review our system. Our paradigm is no longer adapted to reality. However, housing the French is a fundamental need, it is one of the first necessities. When a young household can no longer buy because it no longer has the borrowing capacity to buy, it remains a tenant. The park does not renew itself, it becomes cluttered and it is more and more bottled up. That’s why we say “watch out, we’re going into the wall“. The public authorities have not realized the urgency to react.