This Sunday morning, at the entrance to the Saint-Quentin (10th) market where En Marche activists and Anne Hidalgo supporters pull face-to-face in the light rain, many Parisians discover the candidate's latest shock proposal LREM at the town hall of Paris, Benjamin Griveaux.
In an interview given to our newspaper, the member for Paris undertakes to pay up to 100,000 euros of contribution to households of Parisian middle classes to help them buy their main residence in the capital, where prices are soaring. Consideration: on resale, the City will take a share of the capital gain, which will be capped at 20% of the price of the property.
The measure would benefit 20,000 households on the mandate, including couples with children earning two 6000 euros per month. It divides the Parisians we interviewed. There are enthusiasts like Isabelle and Maxime, two 35-year-old executives with two children, who have just bought their first apartment without difficulty and not without difficulty.
"It's a very good initiative," says Isabelle. We, the middle classes, get stuck between low-rental housing to which we are not entitled and the Haussmann apartments reserved for rentiers. This idea is pragmatic and it's better than wanting to move the Gare de l'Est! (Editor's note: another project by Benjamin Griveaux) ”. "This aid would allow families to stay in Paris: it would create a virtuous circle," adds his companion.
Hélène, 41, employed in a restaurant, who once owned a suburb and now lives in social housing, is also seduced. "This contribution can be the necessary boost for people who are a little limit: it can unblock situations," she judges.
Other crossed inhabitants are more cautious like Niels, 25, an executive in advertising, who nevertheless plans to buy an apartment. "I don't want to get carried away until I know more about the financial mechanism," he says. When I see that in the 10th century, prices sometimes exceed 12,000 euros per square meter, I tell myself that access to property is still a privileged thing in Paris. "
"It won't work," said Sarah.
Finally, there are those who, like Sarah, 32, an executive in the industry, are frankly critical. "It won't work," she says. Sponsoring buyers will not increase the number of homes, but it will artificially inflate prices. Instead, all of these empty buildings and offices should be tackled because of speculation. Next door is an old hotel that has been walled up for years. And then, in my opinion, there are more important social emergencies. "
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The risk of inflation is also what most of Benjamin Griveaux's competitors brandish. Housing Assistant and Supporter of Anne Hidalgo (PCF), Ian Brossat criticizes "a very bad idea". “Low interest rates are already driving prices up. With this check for 100,000 euros to buyers, this will inevitably fuel the spiral, ”says the elected official, who also criticizes“ a squandering of public money ”. To finance his measure estimated at 2 billion euros, the candidate has planned to put 700 million euros of the City on the table and raise 1.3 billion euros on the markets.
The other candidates multiply the criticisms
"If I understand correctly, the City is becoming a hedge fund that is betting on the rise in land prices to reimburse itself", for its part, reacted Nelly Garnier, campaign director for candidate LR Rachida Dati in a tweet. The pretender ecologist David Belliard evokes in the same way the "risks of real estate speculation induced by the proposals of Benjamin Griveaux".
In the camp of the candidate Cédric Villani (ex-LREM), his spokesman Rayan Nezzar points out on Twitter that the measure aims to subsidize 20,000 housing purchases, "or 1% of the Parisian park". And recalls that a week earlier, the former government spokesman had announced the move to the Gare de l'Est estimated at 1.5 billion euros. "In a week, Benjamin Griveaux has just increased Paris' debt by half," taunts the villanist.
"IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY INCREASE PRICES", ESTIMATES THE BOSS OF CENTURY 21
He was one of the first to react to Benjamin Griveaux's shock proposal ... and probably not in the direction the candidate hoped for. Laurent Vimont, president of Century 21 France (which has 76 agencies in the capital), is rather critical on the idea of granting (under condition) a contribution of 100,000 euros to middle class buyers for the purchase of their Principal residence.
“In a shortage market like Paris, where there are queues to buy goods, to supply the market artificially by sponsoring buyers, this will automatically raise prices: it's as simple as pie, c 'is mathematical,' he says.
The boss predicts that "when sellers see buyers arriving with 100,000 euros in their pockets, they will raise prices". In short, according to Laurent Vimont, the measure risks achieving the opposite effect than that expected.
"This proposal surely starts with a good intention but hell is paved with good intentions", tackles the leader, who adds warning policies for years on aid for real estate in the old. "These aids must be dedicated to the new market because this encourages the production of housing," he suggests.
