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I told myself that I was going to stay a tenant all my life, it demoralized me." Like Jérémy, in his thirties, more and more young workers are desperate not to be able to become owners. And yet, he is an executive, on a permanent contract and receives a "very good salary". The surge in credit rates has reshuffled the cards. When they were below 1%, 18 months ago, anyone could borrow. Today, when rates are around 4% (excluding insurance), it is much more complicated, even for wealthy households. And it shows in the numbers.
There is a lot of talk about plummeting real estate sales and falling prices, but there is one statistic whose decline has gone unnoticed: the share of owners of principal residences. In 2014, it amounted to 57.8% (out of a total of 28.8 million main residences), according to INSEE. Today, it has fallen to 57.4% (out of a total of 30.7 million main residences, see graph below) - one of the lowest rates in the European Union - while 75% of inhabitants want to afford a house. A micro-drop certainly, but a decrease. Never seen in nearly 40 years! Meanwhile, the share of tenants continues to climb and has even exceeded 40%. Hence the question: are we moving towards a France of tenants? "This new trend reveals not a preference of the French to be or remain a tenant but rather an inability not to become a homeowner," says Robin Rivaton, founder of Real Estech, a think-tank that reflects on real estate.
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