Good news for people buying their primary residence for the first time! MEPs increased the ceilings of the zero interest loan (PTZ), reserved for first-time buyers and mainly for a purchase of new properties, by adopting, this Monday, October 27, two amendments to the finance bill for 2026, supported by Lionel Causse (Together for the Republic) and Michel Castellani (Libertés, independents, overseas and territories, Liot).
For the record, the amount of this interest-free loan (these being financed by the State), granted under resource conditions in addition to a real estate loan classic, depends, among other things, on the amount of your acquisition. Fixed by decree, depending on the location of the accommodation, the amount of your purchase must not exceed 156,000 euros, nor less than 79,000 euros, to allow you to benefit from the PTZ, according to article L. 31‐10‐10 of the Construction and Housing Code.
Relaunch homeownership
Amounts “unchanged since 2014”underlines Lionel Causse in the explanatory statement of his amendmentwhich therefore proposes «ofupdate the amount of the ceilings of operation of the PTZ, at 195,000 euros instead of 156,000 euros and at 99,000 euros instead of 79,000 euros, to take into account the increase in housing prices.. Prices of new housing have in fact jumped by nearly 33% between the last quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2025, according to INSEE data.
In the current context “unprecedented housing crisis”the MP thus hopes “relaunch property ownership and reduce pressure on the rental market”. A goal also pursued by his colleague Michel Castellani, author of a amendment similar, also adopted by the National Assembly this Monday.
New boost for PTZ
If these two amendments remain in the final version of the finance law for 2026, the increase in the ceilings would come into force for zero-rate loan offers issued from January 1, 2026. A new boost in perspective for the PTZ, expanded since April 1 for the purchase of new individual houses and for the entire territory, whereas it was previously limited to the acquisition of new apartments in tense areas, where the demand for housing is greater than the supply.
Provisions which “already seem to be bearing fruit: while 45,900 zero-rate loans had been granted over the whole of 2024, more than 45,000 PTZ have already been granted in 2025»notes Michel Castellani. “Property ownership must be a priority at a time when the ownership rate is falling, to 57%, and young people therefore have an increasingly strong feeling of being downgraded”insists Lionel Causse to Capital.
