Sales below 100,000 homes, investors in retreat and credit still selective: after a historically low year 2025, close to the low points observed at the end of the 1990s, the new construction sector hopes that 2026 will finally mark a restart.
The figures confirm the extent of the dropout. With 92,352 total sales in 2025 (–10.8% over one year), the market is very far from the 120,000 to 130,000 annual reservations recorded during the best years of the previous cycle.
New housing in slow motion
Even more striking: gross retail sales fell to around 60,000 unitsa level that had not been observed since the mid-1990s. New housing is now operating slowly.
The shock mainly comes from rental investment. The disappearance of Pinel caused a collapse in purchases by individual investors: their share fell to 19% of reservations at retail, compared to almost a third a year earlier. Conversely, the owner-occupiers progress slightly (+4.3%)without being able to compensate for the fall in the rental engine.
THE credithowever, shows signs of improvement. At the end of 2025, the number of loans granted in new construction will increase by + 15.9% over three months year-on-year. But contribution requirements are rising again and financing remains more selective.
2026: the year of restart?
Promoters want to believe that 2025 marks the low point. THE national authorizations for collective housing are starting to rise again (+19.8%) and the sales increased by +9.4%a sign that operations have started again.
“All that was missing was a spark for the market to restart», Says Pascal Boulanger, president of the FPI. This spark, according to him, has a name: the Jeanbrun system, a new status for private landlords intended to recreate a lasting incentive for rental investment after the end of Pinel. “THE status of the private lessorfor which we have invested heavily, is finally here. It is now up to us, housing professionals, with the entire ecosystem, to take up the challenge: to make this status known, explain its advantages and bring it to our fellow citizens.»
The president of the FPI is confident: “We believe it!» Regular exchanges with the government are planned to monitor the effects of the system. The first months of 2026 will be decisive: without a sustainable framework, investors and developers will remain cautious. But if financing conditions stabilize and political visibility improves, the rebound could begin.
