No winter break this year in real estate. "While the market traditionally goes through a lull in the heart of winter, the time has come for a dynamism worthy of the biggest real estate months", that is to say April and May, explains Thomas Lefebvre, director scientist from the Best Agents site. And like January, February was "exceptional", with a rebound in prices per square meter. Thus, in Paris, it even exceeded the record threshold of 11,000 euros, according to SeLoger.
We have to see if this new level is confirmed in the coming months, but demand remains strong. "In one month, the ten largest cities - excluding Paris - saw their prices rise by 0.7% while our barometer usually records an increase from 0.3% to 0.4%", comments the expert . Better yet, "four cities - Lyon, Lille, Paris and Rennes - recorded an increase of + 1% in February," he notes.
Real estate displays insolent health. But is it sustainable in a context of more supervised access to credit and the coronavirus epidemic? For the moment, professionals want to be reassuring. The tightening of the conditions for granting credits, which came into force in January, "has no impact on prices for the time being," according to Meilleur Agents. The candidates for property remain as numerous as ever.
"While a year ago, Strasbourg and Rennes had respectively 16% and 18% more buyers than sellers, this proportion today reaches 30% and 27%", notes Best Agents.
And despite the epidemic risk, the site still anticipates "sharp price increases in the coming months". "Low rates have served as engines and pushed up prices, so keeping them should not have an impact on property prices," explains Thomas Lefebvre. But in terms of volumes, if France follows in Italy's footsteps, we could witness a drop in the number of transactions with a postponement of sales. "