Owner of a second home where you set foot less and less, you really want to resell it. What holds you back is the prospect of the tax you will have to pay on the capital gain on sale. Indeed, unlike the main residence, whose capital gain is exempt from tax regardless of the period between its purchase and its resale, you must wait 22 years after the acquisition of your second home to resell it without being taxed on the capital gain.
“People therefore wait 22 years to sell their second homewhich poses a real problem for the fluidity of the real estate market in markets like mine, where the demand for housing is strong”underlines MP Corentin Le Fur (Republican Right, Côtes-d’Armor), this Monday, November 3, during the examination of the finance bill (PLF) for 2026 by the National Assembly in public session. Secondary residences remain in fact vacant for years, while finding accommodation is an obstacle course in many departments, starting with the most touristy.
Secondary residences likely to become main residences
The parliamentarian therefore filed a amendment to the PLF aimed at reduce the length of detention from 22 to 17 years entitling you to total exemption from real estate capital gains tax for second homes. An amendment “not revolutionary since it shortens the length of detention by only 5 years”argued the MP before the Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin. But, for Corentin Le Fur, it would still be 5 years saved to accelerate the sale of “secondary residences likely to become main residences” buyers “in areas where the real estate market is extremely tight”that is to say where the demand for housing is much higher than the supply.
If the minister, like the finance committee of the National Assembly, said she was unfavorable in “the absence of a transition phase”the general rapporteur of the budget to the Assembly, Philippe Juvin, on the other hand issued a favorable opinion “personally” to the amendment. Which was adopted by the National Assembly. It remains to be seen what the senators will think of it, they who are supposed to examine the draft budget for 2026 from this Tuesday, November 4.
