Secondary residence: why are more and more of you prefer to buy rental

Not so long ago, the purchase of a second home was a social marker. But the explosion of prices, taxation and credit rates is today encouraging rental.

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“Since you go every year in the same place during the holidays, why not buy a secondary residence Rather than rent? It would be cheaper! ” This argument a bit mocking of his friends, all owners of country houses or villas at the sea, never convinced Céline’s father. Already the owner of the family apartment, there was no question for him to pay a second property tax and an additional housing tax, also with the maintenance concerns of a second home located several hundred kilometers from his home.

Without knowing it, Céline’s father, in the 80s, was a precursor of a new trend, observed since last year by trusted people: “Instead of buying a second home, More and more people choose to rent it», Notes with Capital Bertille Marchal, marketing director of this internet platform specializing in the sale and rental of second homes. “At the time of our parents and grandparents, the acquisition of a second home, where the whole family gathered during the holidays, was a social marker. This is less the case today, families being much more fragmented ” With the multiplication of separations, she analyzes.

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The purchase of a second home, an arduous financial equation

“Formerly synonymous with success and heritage placement, the acquisition of a second home has been transformed today into a increasingly difficult financial equation to solve»»adds expertimo. Still 10 years ago, when real estate prices were 40% lower than their current levels, “The financing of the acquisition of a second home was easy”recalls the real estate network. This was still the case in 2022, despite the price increase: “With credit rates below 1%, lengthening the duration of their loans at 25 years, the owners could still hope to balance the investment in a second home thanks to rental income” That they drew from it, explains EXPERTIMO.

But with credit rates which quadrupled in 2022 and 2023, and which remain greater than 3%, today, “The rental yield no longer makes it possible to cover the financial costs linked to the acquisition of the second home”says Grégory Berrier, President of Expertimo. Especially since “Many seaside resorts, such as Biarritz and Saint-Malo, restrict the possibilities of seasonal rentals ”, To promote rentals for the year for families and workers. And if the housing tax on the main residences has disappeared since 2023, it remains due for secondary residences. With a increase from 5% to… 60% Permitted in the 4,000 municipalities located in tense areas, where the demand for housing is much higher than the supply.

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Almost 4,000 euros for two weeks of rental

Investment in a second home “sis gradually turned into irrational objectiveeven in “dancer”, Cingle Expertimo. It is not Marc, the fifties, who will say the opposite: “The charges and maintenance of a second home are binding”, plague This Parisian consultant, tenant of second homes on trusted people. Sophie, 47 years old and manager in Nantes, echoes him: “We have long hesitated to buy a holiday home on the Atlantic coast. We finally prefer to rent several times a year. ”

If Sophie and her family rent each year in a different region, others return to the same rental from one year to the next: “They find bikes, landing nets, local cooking books, as in a real family home”smiles Bertille Marchal. But without the concern of the credit to be reimbursed and local taxes to pay. It costs them all the same on average 260 euros per night, i.e. 3,650 euros for two weeksCalculates trusted people.