Real estate: the drop in prices is over, is it the time or never to buy?

After two and a half years of real estate crisis, old housing prices increased by 0.3% since January in the 50 largest cities in France, according to Seloger.

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The real estate crisis is not over that the costs Don’t lower anymore! “The drop in prices (in 2023 and 2024) is indeed stopped”notes the Seloger real estate advertisement portal, in its monthly study published this Tuesday, April 1. In March, the prices of ancient housing in the 50 largest cities in France made a surprise, after their slight increase of 0.1% in February. They display a 0.3% increase since the start of the yearcompared to the first quarter of 2024. The trend is identical both for the 10 main cities in the country (+0.2%), including the capital (+0.7%), and for rural areas (+1.1%). “No market segment escapes this change of trend”summarizes Seloger. And underline “That it is necessary to go back to 2022, before the increase in the rates of mortgage (which had soared beyond 4% in the fall of 2023), to see all market segments in the green ”on the front of price developments.

With an increase of 3.3%, Toulouse is the metropolis which sees its prices rise most strongly over a year. In Lyon, they increased by almost 2%. Of the 11 large French metropolises, only Rennes, Bordeaux, Lille and Nantes display downward prices, by 1%, 1.1%, 2.2%and 2.4%, respectively, since January 1. “As a comparison, they were eight in this case in early April 2024”recalls Seloger.

Price stabilization

This rise in prices in many cities in France results from the beginning of Recovery of real estate purchasesthanks to credit rates that fell around 3%. “Demand increased by 14% in Paris and 16% in the 10 largest cities in France”since the beginning of the year, has details Seloger. It even jumped 27% in Toulouse, 33% in Bordeaux and 24% in Strasbourg. Nantes Exception, with a drop -down demand of 5%. It must be said that with a surge in prices of more than 30% in 10 years, “This city has experienced one of the largest tariff accelerations in France. What to impact the purchasing power of buyers! Even if prices are now down 6% over a year, this decrease is not yet substantial enough to compensate for the previous increase ”explains Seloger.

The real estate portal considers however that “The dynamism of the recovery remains to be qualified. Still far from a bullish cycle, the market is in a phase of Price stabilization»». An opinion shared by Jordan Frarier, President of Foncia Transaction, during his economic point on Tuesday: “Yes, I have the impression, too, that we are on a stabilization of prices, on a national scale. With the possibility of seeing them increase from 4% to 5% in certain sectors, this year, if mortgage rates continue to lower or increase only slightly ”. “Watch out for Do not put up prices too fast»»warns their colleague Xavier Belvaux, director general of We Invest France, who already observes increases in certain regions, such as in Montpellier, increases likely to block the market again.