The housing crisis is wreaking havoc: the number of building permits and construction starts is collapsing in France

Les mises en chantier ont diminué de 22 % en un an. Midi Libre – Max BERULLIER

Leur nombre a chuté de 23,7 % en 2023. C’est l’un des effets de la crise du logement.

Can the measures outlined on Tuesday by Gabriel Attal change the situation ? The Prime Minister promised to create "a supply shock " and "unlock" accommodation, procedures, a sector plunged into a deep crisis.

According to provisional figures published Tuesday by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the number of building permit authorizations collapsed in 2023, standing at 373,100, a drop by 23.7% compared to 2022.

"Catastrophe foretold"

And this, despite a jump in December (+ 12 %), mainly due to collective and residential accommodation (seniors, students…). "The figure for the month of December is a good news but is not significant. We continue to see that it continues to decline and that it is not going to start again, reacted Pascal Boulanger, the president of the Federation of Real Estate Developers (FPI), in Les Échos.

"Even we developers, we file less and less building permits because we first seek to sell the stock of what we have in production, as we sell much more slowly, he added.

"The market falls"

But 115,900 fewer building permits have been granted and all regions are impacted. The number of construction starts fell, also logically over one year (-22%). "The market is falling back close to its historic lows of 1992-1993", had alerted the French Building Federation (FFB) in December, anticipating a recession by 5% this year.

"The predicted disaster is occurring, reacted on Tuesday, the president of the FFB, Olivier Salleron, cited by the economic daily. We are sliding towards the dangerous slope of non-delivery of housing for the needs of the French population. If the trend continues, which it will, we will build less than 250,000 housing units at the end of 2024, which is half as much as what is needed."< /em>