Should rental prices be blocked?

With inflation, the price of rents takes off. Housing remains the main item of expenditure. “It represents my entire budget because I am a student, so I have no income”, says a woman. Rents continue to rise, as in Paris, where the price per m² has increased by 56% in ten years. In one year, the benchmark rent index is up 2.48%, which should lead to an increase in rental prices.

Rents are regulated in certain cities such as Paris, Lille (Nord) and Lyon (Rhône). But the housing confederation asks that these prices be blocked. “Compared to a purchasing power which is well under way with the Covid-19 crisis, with the crisis in Ukraine, (…) all of this is no longer bearable for tenants”, says Eddie Jacquemart, president of the National Housing Confederation. The government has not announced any specific measures, except for a bill to counter inflation in early June.