This year, new housing starts will exceed the barrier of 400.000 units at last

The French construction sector was severely hit by the economic and financial crises and only really started to recover in 2016. New housing starts is expected to reach a high level in 2017 with 410.000 units, compared with 373.000 in 2016.

The annual rate of growth in loans for house purchases continue to increase. Low mortgage rates and rising household incomes favour housing investment.

Furthermore, a number of support schemes are helping raise construction activity.

• The development is generally better for flats, where a number of incentives for rental investments have been introduced. The share of rental investors among the purchasers of new homes sold by developers is higher than 50%.
• For the first-home buyers, a positive measure was the reinforcement of the PTZ loan (Prêt à taux zéro), in particular with an increase of the level of the loans granted and a slight loosening of the conditions of access on social criteria. The aim is to allow young buyers to access to ownership along with attractive housing loans. This measure has a very positive impact on the individual housing segment.

All this bodes well for future residential construction investment. Recovery is under way. New housing starts will exceed the barrier of 400.000 units this year. The last time the construction was higher than 400.000 units was in 2011!