This is a significant drop from last year.
The number of building permits fell by 23.7% in 2023 compared to 2022 with 373,100 authorizations issued, according to provisional data communicated this Tuesday by the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
In December 2023, the construction of 33,700 housing units was authorized, up 12% compared to November, but 115,900 fewer permits were issued for the whole year.
The number of construction starts fell by 22% over one year, the ministry said, to 287,100 housing units.
Permit issuances reached record levels during 2022 due to regulatory deadlines.
Authorizations for 2023 are below pre-Covid levels (-19%), between March 2019 and February 2020.
“The market falls back to near its historic lows”
Like permits, housing starts also recovered in December (+ 22%) compared to November, with 26,900 housing units.
But construction site openings over the whole of 2023 remain much lower than those of 2022, with 287,100 housing units, and also much lower than the pre-Covid period (-24.6%).
“The market is falling back to near its historic lows of 1992-1993 (275,000 units),” the French Building Federation (FFB) warned in December, predicting a recession of 5% in 2024.
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These poor figures can be compared to the record number of issuances reached in 2022 following an influx of permit applications at the end of 2021, before the entry into force of more ambitious environmental regulations (RE2020) for new construction.
But above all they reflect a deep crisis in new construction, as in the entire housing sector, due to a fall in demand linked to the tightening of borrowing conditions and the disinterest of institutional investors. for rental investment, but also the increase in construction costs and land prices.