Construction on the brink of crisis?
Four months after confinement, the sector had still not caught up with its momentum at the start of the year, according to construction figures released Wednesday by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, on which housing depends.
In September, the number of homes for which construction was authorized was still down (- 17%) compared to the average for the three months before confinement.
At the real estate developer AST Groupe, we can only confirm it: building permits are difficult to issue from the administrations.
"We are heading straight for economic disaster," laments Alain Tur, his boss.
"We are having a very difficult year in terms of building permits", confesses unabashedly Hervé Puybouffat, president of Tagerim Promotion, who does not feel "an unrestrained desire on the part of elected officials to release the permits to catch up" .
The municipal elections, with elected officials timid to build more than a year before the ballot, then the confinement, which put to a halt more or less long all the sites and the instruction of the building permits, and finally the The arrival of new municipal teams significantly slowed down construction.
The announcement of a new confinement, from Friday, and although construction workers will be able to continue working, could further slow down the sector.
Emmanuelle Wargon, Minister for Housing, wanted to be reassuring this Thursday.
"The sector will be able to continue its activity, as well with the instruction of the building permits as on the construction", she explains, guaranteeing a "continuity of service" of the State administrations and the territorial collectivities.
In other words: permits will continue to be issued ...
"So much the better if the construction industry can continue to work, but not all of our customers work in the construction industry," recalls Hervé Puybouffat, who is worried about a drop in demand in the coming months, with activities forced to stop and tightening conditions for access to credit.
“The job of promoter is a bet on the future,” explains Alain Tur.
And when the future is uncertain, they find themselves in a certain wait-and-see attitude… ”
Rising prices in the face of the scarcity of supply
The government had already predicted that, "probably", the construction objectives will not be met, with 50,000 permits and 35,000 fewer starts this year.
The Ile-de-France region is particularly concerned: over the last twelve months the number of building permits issued was down, at the end of September, by almost a quarter compared to the previous twelve months.
It is down 13% in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Occitanie and 10% in Pays de la Loire and New Aquitaine.
Already, the consequences on prices are being felt.
According to a study by the broker Empruntis, carried out with the Find-un-logement-neuf.com platform, the scarcity of supply is driving prices up.
In Lyon (Rhône), buying a new three-room apartment costs 389,000 euros, or 12% more than six months ago.
In Lille (North), the same good costs 10% more expensive than before the crisis ... "Due to the lack of renewal of the offer well before the confinement, the prices have climbed in recent months and the delay taken during the confinement will not make that to accentuate the problem in the coming months ”, predicts Céline Coletto, the spokesperson for Find-un-logement-neuf.com.
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"There is high pressure on stocks, we can no longer find building land, authorization decisions are very long," describes Alain Tur.
The price increase is a certainty.
"As soon as the supply becomes scarce, the price increases, it's mechanical", confirms Hervé Puybouffat.
At the risk of plunging the new even further into the crisis?
