Buyers, tenants, professionals… At the moment, regardless of the side, everyone is experiencing the same situation and feeling the tension in the real estate market. Sector in great shape since the health crisis, a phenomenon even amplified in La Rochelle, where the housing problem is already complicated in normal times. Since the health crisis (it had started a little before), the price per m2 has soared: it has doubled, from around 3000 euros a few years ago, it can now exceed 6000 euros. In this context of strong demand and increasingly scarce supply, the market is tight.
When I have a studio for sale, it leaves in an hour
When real estate agents post a new ad, “I receive _a hundred emails in the morning, around fifty phone calls_“, relates Kervin Morellec, he takes care of rentals for Orpi in La Rochelle, Châtelaillon and Angoulins. Rental, sale, regardless of the nature of the transaction, just like the agency, it’s the same everywhere. Baptiste Le Gal works at La Forêt: “If I take the example of studios, a property that sells very well, before, we had five or six available, now I have none. And when I have one, it is sold in time.”
Their work has therefore been changed for some time. No more admins, _”_We do our best to respond to all requests.says Kervin Morellec. Even if most of the time it’s to say no, and it’s quite frustrating.” Baptiste Le Gal recognizes that there is more stress: “We have much less visibility, I don’t know how many mandates I will have in the month.” And when one arrives, he immediately leaves, “it’s going fast, it’s going very fast”, he adds. Files don’t have time to pile up on his desk.
Sometimes the tone rises
Stress, Chrystelle, a Rochelaise, has had it for three years because of her accommodation. Currently tenant, she would like to become owner: “But I do not find. _If it continues, in a few months I will give up_. I will stay in my rental, I will wait for my child to grow up and then in a few years I will move away from La Rochelle.” A young couple, Capucine and Antoine, have finally found them, after a year of research. “We were very luckyconfess the couple. It was a neighbor who told us that he was selling his house. We jumped at the chance. We’re moving in soon, and we can’t wait. Because we are cramped, we now have a child and currently we only have one bedroom”.
Real estate agents are well aware of the distress in which certain tenants or potential buyers find themselves. “Yes, it’s already happened that things get out of hand, that the tone rises, we can feel the tension. But we are only intermediaries, we can’t do much about it”argues Kervin Morellec.