With the demand for housing in France at an all time high, the market has failed to push forwards from the last two years of poor revenue, with 2014 looking like becoming the bleakest yet.
Despite the government’s campaign “Target 500,000”, which was aimed at building half a million new homes in the country and renovating half a million more before 2017, the house housing industry in France looks increasingly dreary.
Recent trends show that despite small peaks over the last 12 months, the industry as a whole has seen slower than expected growth and even stagnant production in some pockets of land. With sales of new homes lower by 30% than that of the same period in 2010 and a huge surge in costs, developers have seen land become vastly more expensive to purchase.
“Fifteen to 20 years ago, between the moment we met a land owner and the moment we sold the property, 4.5 years would have passed, nowadays its 6.5 years. This lengthening weighs on cost,” Francois Payelle, president of the Federation des Promoteurs Immobiliers explained in an interview for CNBC.
It is not just the time frame that has stalled France’s housing market but also changes to Governments and the financial crisis currently being felt across the whole of Europe. With less money available to be invested and current investors having to tighten their belts, many sectors and not just housing, are feeling the pinch.
For the market to pick itself back up and begin to make positive steps, the French Government must make housing a top priority and invest money and resources into developers and construction in order to meet their “Target 500,000” deadline in 2017.
