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Public finances: the State sells real estate
Public finances: the State sells real estate – (France 2)
In order to replenish its coffers, the State sells part of its public assets. How do these sales work? Is the State a winner? Response elements.
Houses, offices, building land or even private mansions: on its dedicated website, the State sells all types of goods and at all prices. Like a classic real estate agency, it tries to attract buyers to replenish its coffers. In Montélimar (Drôme), an office building is for sale. Until now, it housed staff from the Ministry of Justice, who no longer work there. The objective stated by the government: to reduce by 25% the total surface area of premises occupied by the administration.
Good business for the state?
For buyers, the price is sometimes attractive. In Saint-Léger-Triey (Côte-d’Or), an individual has just acquired a forest house, formerly owned by the State. He acquired this 100 m2 property for 98,000 euros, or 15% cheaper than market prices. Does the state still do good business? No. For example, he sold the former national printing works in 2003 for 103 million euros, before buying it back for three times as much years later.
How to avoid this type of error? “The answer is a change of method. We are going, like the Germans, to acquire a public land holding, that is to say that the State’s assets will be managed by an organization”explains Thomas Cazenave, Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts.
Among our sources
Ministry of Public Accounts
Public life.fr
Non-exhaustive list
