The housing crisis hides “an extremely strong underlying social crisis”, warns Véronique Bédague, boss of Nexity

Véronique Bédague’s observation is clear, behind the housing crisis hides “an extremely strong underlying social crisis”, estimates the CEO of Nexity, the leading French real estate group, invited Monday, April 24 on France Inter. With “100,000 more poorly housed people, 10% more people on the street and 100,000 more applicants for social housing last year”it calls on the authorities to fully grasp this crisis, “a slow, but extremely safe poison”.

While the real estate market is marked both by the collapse of new housing on the one hand and by “complete blockage” of the rental market on the other hand, she deplores the fact that Emmanuel Macron talks about everything except housing while Bercy “analyzes what is happening with Excel tables (…) without ever looking at what the French are really going through”. Concerning the new home market, Véronique Bédague notes that this makes “years” that there are not enough offers. “We don’t build enough” housing, she laments, while several professionals in the sector have recalled in recent days the need to build 500,000 new homes per year, against 375,000 in 2022. “We are far from the mark and I think there will be a real collapse of the single-family house”believes the boss of Nexity.

The influence of rising interest rates on home ownership

She points to the rise in interest rates, which have risen from 1 to 3% in less than two years, clearly worsening the situation. “This rise in interest rates has reduced by about 25%, by a quarter, the real estate purchasing power of the French”explains Véronique Bédague. “Young people, the most modest, really have a lot more difficulty than in the past to access property”she regrets, while “the desire for housing, to be an owner, remains there”.

Added to this is the regulation on thermal colanders, which have been banned for hire since January 1, with an expansion planned for properties classified G in 2025, then F in 2028 and E in 2034. “We realized that in Île-de-France, 46% of housing rented today in the private sector are thermal strainers so potentially these housing units risk leaving the rental market. You can imagine the effect what can it have in Ile-de-France?”launches Véronique Bédague, fearing that the rental market will tighten even more.

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“If we do not launch our construction sites, employment in the construction industry will inevitably decline”she warns, convinced that the figure of 100,000 fewer jobs in the construction industry next year is certainly “undervalued”. Véronique Bédague also calls for “revisit the rules of the High Council for Financial Stability which block the initiative of banks”. On May 9, the government will present proposals resulting from the consultations of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) to respond to the housing crisis.