DPE: these 10 cities where G housing abound, now prohibited from renting

Since January 1, 2025, housing rated G on the DPE can no longer be the subject of a new lease contract. Find out which cities are most affected by this ban, which will further shrink the rental market.

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600,000. This is the number of homes currently rented in France but for which a new lease can no longer be concluded since Wednesday January 1, 2025, on the grounds that they are rated G on the energy performance diagnosis (DPE). What makes them the worst thermal strainers after G+ housing, already prohibited from rental since January 1, 2023. Where are these poorly insulated and poorly heated properties located, which risk leaving the rental market due to the departure of their occupants or the renewal of leases with tenants already in place?

Paris comes at the top of the 10 cities with more than 90,000 inhabitants which concentrate the greatest number of housing rated G on the DPE, according to a ranking drawn up at the end of December by Hello Watt, a company specializing in energy efficiency, on the basis of data from the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe). In the capital, no less than 12.5% ​​of the residential stock is labeled G. Then come Boulogne-Billancourt (9.5%), Argenteuil (7.8%), Saint-Denis (7.4%) and Aubervilliers (7.3%). Four cities which have in common that they are also located in Ile-de-France, such as Montreuil (6%), which comes in seventh place in the ranking. “Tens of thousands of Ile-de-France tenants could lose their rental in 2025”the National Real Estate Federation (Fnaim) Grand Paris was alarmed on December 20.

Old and complicated housing to renovate in Paris

Why do the towns of Ile-de-France have so many G thermal strainers? Mainly due to the age of the real estate, explains to Capital Sylvain Le Falher, president of Hello Watt. “While the average construction date for French housing stock is 1976, it falls to 1953 for G housing”he explains. Parisian buildings are even older since 58% of existing buildings date from the 19th century, according to the Parisian Urban Planning Workshop.

Ile-de-France is also characterized by a preponderance of collective housing, “more complicated to renovate than individual houses, in particular due to the length of decision-making processes in co-ownership, and construction workinterior insulation which are not recommended, given the high price per square meter, because they reduce the surface area of ​​the property”adds Sylvain Le Falher. Without forgetting “the significant proportion, in Ile-de-France, of small surface area housing, penalized by the method of calculating the DPE”adds the president of Hello Watt. Alongside these six Ile-de-France towns, Rouen (6.3%), Avignon (6%), Le Havre (5.7%) and Grenoble (5.6%) complete the list of 10 French cities with the greatest number of thermal strainers G. For reasons, again, mainly of the age of the building, says Sylvain Le Falher.

Lozère in pole position for very energy-intensive housing

On the basis of departments, and no longer cities, the G housing map places Lozère in pole position (20.6%), tied with Cantal, ahead of Creuse (17.8%), Hautes-Alpes (15.8%), the Alpes de Haute Provence (13.3%) and Corrèze (12.9%). Unlike Ile-de-France, it is not the date of construction of the real estate that explains these high proportions of G energy sieves but “a method of heating mainly with oil, lack of gas networks in these sparsely populated or mountainous areas”deciphers Sylvain Le Falher. Gold “one of the first jobs to undertake to get a home out of grade G is to get rid of oil heating”he says.

Another explanation for the significant share of G thermal strainers in these departments is their climate: in the Hautes-Alpes as in Cantal, it is particularly cold in winter, which requires considerable heating of homes, which display energy consumption at the amendment.