Real estate: the breakthrough in furnished apartments "could lead to lower rents"

Florent Guiocheau, Scientific Director at SeLoger, analyzes the arrival in force of furnished apartments and its consequences on the rental market.

Why are we witnessing a spectacular increase in furnished accommodation on the rental market?

FLORENT GUIOCHEAU.

This is a phenomenon that has been observed for a few years, in particular because of the high transaction prices in the big cities.

But it was accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis.

The desire elsewhere, in larger homes has led to the emergence of a new clientele: those who want to test these life changes before committing.

And the furnished apartment responds very well to this request.

All the more so with the absence of business and leisure tourism, many properties have returned to the traditional rental market.

Does this have consequences on the type of goods that we will find on the market?

Absolutely.

The massive arrival of furnished apartments has especially upset the rental market in large tourist towns.

Especially at the level of surfaces.

The studios' offer has therefore increased by 140%.

And in cities like Bordeaux, it has experienced a spectacular increase of 500%!

At the other end of the spectrum, we also notice that the number of supermarkets has jumped by + 102%, a sign that things are changing.

However, not all will find takers.

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Will this situation have an impact on rents?

These changes could lead to lower prices.

With such competition, if landlords can't find tenants, the easiest decision is to lower the rent.

However, in one year, they increased by 3.6% to 14.30 euros per m2.

But this increase can be a sham.

Indeed, seasonal rental owners offer prices 4 to 5 times higher than those of a traditional rental.

So when they come back to the traditional market, they tend to overestimate the rents so as not to lose too much money.

But that doesn't mean they'll find a tenant.

The coming months will tell us.