Rental investment and home ownership: how François Bayrou wants to revive them

The Prime Minister has not specified how he intends to revive rental investment and home ownership, but his housing minister is determined to support the expansion of the PTZ, the tax exemption for donations for purchases. of housing and the creation of a private landlord status.

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After an hour and a half of general policy declaration, François Bayrou insisted on“stop on the subject of accommodation”. “If we can’t find accommodation, we can’t get recognized.”admitted the Prime Minister. Words which must resonate with many French people, whom the quadrupling of mortgage rates between the start of 2022 and the end of 2023 has prevented them from accessing property, thereby seizing up the rental market. “We need a rethought and broader housing policy”declared the tenant of Matignon, who maintained in his government the housing minister appointed by his predecessor Michel Barnier, Valérie Létard, while no less than four housing ministers have succeeded one another over the last two years.

In a country which now builds less than 300,000 homes per year, even though it needs more 500,000François Bayrou, one year before the next municipal elections, hears “support elected builders, reduce delays and streamline procedures” for building permit applications. In a context of high cost and scarcity of land, due to the fight against the artificialization of land, he also wishes “promote gentle densification”for example by raising buildings a few floors. The head of government notably announced the construction of 15,000 housing units per year, for three years, for students, for whom finding accommodation is often a challenge. “The Prime Minister’s roadmap corresponds point by point to the proposals formulated by the Federation of Real Estate Developers since 2022 and which have never been implemented”, approves Pascal Boulanger, president of the FPI

Towards a private lessor status

The Prime Minister also said he was keen to «rlaunch home ownership and rental investment». François Bayrou did not say more, so much so that the president of the Social Union for Housing, which brings together social landlords, Emmanuelle Cosse, regrets “very vague comments”. But the Minister of Housing reaffirmed her desire, in an interview with Le Figaro last Friday, to support two measures in favor of home ownership, as part of the examination of the finance bill for 2025, which will resume in the Senate on Wednesday January 15. First, the extension of the zero-rate loan to new individual houses and to the entire territory, while only new apartments located in tense areas, where the demand for housing is much higher than the supply, are currently eligible for this loan reserved for first-time buyers subject to means testing. Then, the exemption from inheritance tax on donations to children and grandchildren for the purchase of new housing, up to 100,000 euros and for a period of one year only.

In terms of rental investment, Valérie Létard regularly recalls her intention to set up a “true tax status of private landlord»in order to recognize the economic role of landlord owners, often accused of rentiers. A status that professional real estate organizations have been calling for for several years and which could take the form of a depreciation of rental investmentdeductible from the owner’s overall gross income, as exists in Germany. “The measures taken by the minister, particularly in the finance bill, are more relevant than ever and respond to the indications given by the Prime Minister”confirms Valérie Létard’s office.