Students are finding it increasingly difficult to find accommodation

With one month to go before the start of the university year, the race against time is on to find somewhere to live in an increasingly difficult context.

Finding a student apartment in large cities is never easy, but this year the rental tension makes the market even more closed than usual. In the Paris region, as elsewhere, demand is still strong, but there is a shortage of apartments on the market.

In Ivry-sur-Seine, in Val-de-Marne, Clémence is already on her third visit. The business school student in Paris is looking for an apartment to move into with her partner at the start of the school year and, as she knows, the search can be long. “We started at the end of May, beginning of June. We make a lot of requests. Often, we don’t get many answers, so honestly, it’s complicated, but you have to hang on. Then, you end up finding something.”she tries to reassure herself.

The apartment that Clémence discovers has only been available for rent for a few days, but there is no shortage of candidates: five visits have already been scheduled. This year, student housing offers are rare, according to real estate agent Jérôme Dutranoy. “Currently, we have five apartments for rent, whereas normally we have about ten. We have 16% fewer new homes on the market compared to last year.”he explains.

“Tenants stay in their homes.”

Jérôme Dutranoy, real estate agent

to franceinfo

Fewer homes are therefore available for rent, and for the real estate agent, this is explained by the fact that this summer in the Paris region, many students kept their apartments. “There is much less turnover than in previous years. Usually, at this time, they give up their accommodation to look for another one for the start of the school year. And this year, we see that students are staying in apartments and therefore there is a shortage of offers,” adds Jérôme Dutranoy.

“We have this phenomenon all over Franceexplains Corinne Bérec, vice-president of the Orpi real estate agency network, and in all the big cities. Whether it’s Lyon, Marseille or Toulouse, all the big cities where there is a larger sector of activity. In Aix-en-Provence for example, where rents are not regulated, we have a very, very, very strong demand, not many offers. And there, we have owners who put their homes at prices that are too high.”

With the start of the school year just a few weeks away, many students are without a solution. According to figures from the student union L’Union étudiante, nearly 90,000 students will start the academic year without housing in 2023.