Offer yourself a holiday homein the countryside or by the sea, is a dream for many French people. But there taxation which accompanies it is much less exhilarating. If there housing tax On the main residence disappeared in 2023, it remains due for secondary residences. And in some of the 3,690 municipalities located in a tense area, where the demand for housing is much higher than the supply, the note can be particularly salty: they are indeed authorized to Major the housing tax from 5% to… 60% ! No less than 44% of them jumped at the opportunity in 2025, against 40% in 2024, according to the Directorate General for Public Finances. Three regions (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and Occitanie) concentrate the largest number of municipalities that have established this increase, with 339, 327 and 185 cities respectively.
If the average rate of increase is to 41.4%40% of municipalities have still increased the housing tax on the second authorized maximum residences by 60% (see infographic). This is the case with La Rochellewhere the increase has increased this year from 50% to 60%, the various left municipality hoping to encourage owners to resell their secondary residences, and that these are acquired either by occupying owners, or by investors who will rent them year-round to students, young workers or families. La Rochelle has no less than 6,500 second homes, or 12% of the housing park, against 4,500 ten years ago.
A housing tax particularly increased in the west
It is also for “Fighting the development of airbnb type tourist furnishings” that Villeurbannenext to Lyon, decided to bring the increase in the housing tax from 36% to 60% in 2025. “The increase in the housing tax on secondary residences on the ceiling, allowed by the State, is necessary to fight against poor housing”argues the municipal majority, recalling that nearly 25,000 people are homeless in the Metropolis of Lyon, where the number of second homes has more than doubled in 10 years.
But it’s in west that the average rate of increase is the highest, with Brittany (49.4%) and New Aquitaine (49.3%) in pole position, ahead of Ile-de-France (44%). Conversely, the average rate is the lowest in the regions located in the northeast, such as Burgundy-Franche-Comté (20.2%), the Grand-Est (34.7%) and the Hauts-de-France (33.6%). To meditate if you want to buy a second home. Especially since the housing tax is added to the property taxwhich has jumped 20% on average in France in the past five years.
