the factors are both “structural and cyclical” for a member of the Superior Council of Notaries

The factors of the real estate construction crisis are “structural and cyclical” for Elodie Fremont, notary in Paris and member of the real estate situation commission at the Superior Council of Notaries (CSN). Invited on Friday April 26 on franceinfo, she reacted to Nexity’s announcement to cut 502 positions to deal with the real estate construction crisis.

To the question of why there are so few purchases of new housing, the notary answers that “the indicators are not good” and that it is therefore “very complicated to envisage a favorable future in a positive way and this quickly”. She recalls that this crisis of new construction is added to that of real estate in old buildings. “which has lasted for two years”. She fears that that of new housing will not last long: “When we shut down a new liner, it takes a lot longer to be relaunched, in other words it’s more like waves lasting 5 to 7 years.”

“Administrative constraints, construction site constraints, raw material costs”

To explain the blockage in the new home market, Elodie Fremont suggests that “this housing sector suffers from the cost of land […] which has increased considerably.” “Because before building, she continues, you have to buy the square meters of land to build on.” And this is added to “the increase in administrative constraints, construction site constraints, raw material costs… All this causes less construction and therefore less housing for individuals and therefore we are going to arrive in a complicated housing crisis”, she alerts.

Concerning the drop in interest rates, the notary recalls that the “hopes were dashed after the ECB’s previous announcements”. SO “yes perhaps the interest rate will fall, I don’t have a crystal ball but what is certain is that we will not find rates at 0.95% that we have known for the Covid period”. Elodie Fremont fears that the new home market will escape a segment of the population, “since there are people who could buy by borrowing at 0.95% but who cannot by borrowing at 4%”.