Your children would like buy their first home but are somewhat tight financially. You are wondering how to help them, your assets being mainly made up of your main residence. There sale of bare ownership may be a solution. This operation consists of splitting the full ownership of a home in two to sell the bare ownership, that is to say the possession of the walls, and keep the property.usufruct or the right to use the property to live in it or rent it out.
“This mechanism allows you to obtain significant liquidity while retaining the use of your home”underlines the company Renée Costes, specialized in real estate monetization. And, “unlike an inheritance, which is often late, this makes it possible to transmit (money) when children really need itfor example for the acquisition of housing or the creation of a business”she adds.
Real estate in Paris: a price per square meter below 9,600 euros in December 2025 (notaries)
Transmit the money from bare ownership in the form of donations
As for the advantages of selling bare ownership for the investor who buys it from you, they are multiple: discount of 40% to 50% on the value of the property, zero taxation, no property tax or co-ownership charges, no risk of unpaid rent and obtaining full ownership after around fifteen years, upon the death of the usufructuary. The money that the investor pays you upon sale, you can pass it on to your children “in the form of donations benefiting from advantageous common law taxation”recalls Renée Costes.
Indeed, every 15 years, an adult child, whose parent is under the age of 80, can benefit from the latter, without having to pay gift tax, from 31,865 euros family donation of sum of money and 100,000 euros due to his or her family relationship with the donor. Or a total amount exempt from 131,865 euros.
6,000 real estate monetization operations in 2024
Added since this year another exemption, temporary this one. Since February 15, donations to children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren or, failing that, to nephews and nieces, have been exempt from free transfer taxes, within the limit of 100,000 euros per donor and 300,000 euros per donee (the one who receives), provided that this money finances the purchase of new housing intended for the main residence or energy renovation work in the main residence. “Please note, this provision will end on December 31, 2026”recalls Renée Costes, who sees “a window of opportunity to monetize your accommodation”.
Whether bare ownership or life annuity sales, some 6,000 real estate monetization operations were carried out in France in 2024, an increase of 20% in France since 2020, the company figures. These operations made it possible to redistribute around 1.1 billion euros to sellers last year, she adds. Sellers aged 74.4 years on average and 21% of whom monetized their home to help their children financially. Among Renée Costes’ clients, a couple sold the bare ownership of their apartment, which was worth more than 3 million euros, and thus donated 200,000 euros to each of his four children to enable them to acquire their first home. The parents continued to live at home and invested the balance of the money received from the sale of the bare property.
