Real estate: the metropolises where the prices of apartments and houses have plummeted the most over the past year

Prices of old housing have been falling for a year in the majority of French metropolises. Here are the towns where prices are falling the most.

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The existing real estate market is recovering. The fall in apartment and house prices has eased significantly and reached -1.6% at the end of 2024 over 12 months rolling nationally, compared to -4.6% in May 2024, according to the latest barometer LPI/Iad prices. “The recovery in sales of old homes which began at the start of 2024 was particularly strong at the end of the year. And the number of compromises signed in 2024 is almost identical to that of 2023. Thus the fall in housing prices has gradually become less rapid.», Explains Michel Mouillart, professor of economics and spokesperson for the LPI / Iad barometer.

In January 2025, the average price per square meter in old buildings, apartments and houses combined, reached 3,217 euros nationally, a drop of -1.6% over one year. Please note that this average price was established on the basis of signed sales agreements, and not the prices displayed by the sellers. In most large metropolises, the fall in prices of old housing has been even more marked over the last twelve months. In the Bordeaux metropolitan area, for example, apartment prices fell by -6.4% over one year to reach 3,788 euros per square meter on average, the largest drop among French metropolises. The fall in house prices is even more impressive in the Gironde metropolitan area with a drop in prices amounting to -8.1% over the last twelve months to reach 3,901 euros per square meter on average.

The drop in apartment prices over the last twelve months is also impressive in the metropolitan areas of Lyon (-5.9%), Nantes (-4.7%) and Toulouse (-3.6%). The Paris region has also seen the prices of its old houses and apartments plummet over the last 12 months, by -5% and -5.1% respectively. In inner Paris, housing prices have even fallen in all districts over the last twelve months, except the 9th (+1.1%).

A faster decline in the city center

“In large metropolises, the prices of old apartments are falling rapidly but the decline, which slows over the months, is very often faster in the central city than in the outskirts.continues Michel Mouillart. The price gap between the city center and the outskirts thus amounts to around 30% in the Greater Paris metropolis and between 10 and 15% in other metropolises. Due in particular to the difficulties in accessing credit encountered by households with the rise in rates, demand has shifted in recent months to the peripheral communities of large cities.

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Note that the metropolises of Strasbourg, Brest and Nancy have escaped the downward dynamic and have seen their prices stagnate or even increase over the last twelve months. In these towns, the prices of old apartments are starting to rise again, both in the city center and on the outskirts. The increase is often faster in city centers, given the pressure of demand in these markets.