Like 2020, 2021 was extremely dynamic due to the post-Covid effect. Credit rates were very low at the time, hovering around 1% or even lower. The French then turned massively to buying goods.
Last year, given general inflation and the conflict in Ukraine, mortgage rates started to rise again, making home ownership more difficult. Between 2021 and 2022, all of France’s largest cities lost square footage. An even more striking drop in the real estate purchasing power of buyers if we compare 2022 with before the pandemic, i.e. with the year 2019.
This is revealed by the assessment of the real estate purchasing power of the French in France’s 20 largest cities*, carried out by the broker Meilleurtaux.
Le Mans, Saint-Étienne, Le Havre, Angers… a significant loss of real estate purchasing power
Emerging from the health crisis, these cities have continued to attract buyers. The number of m2 that buyers could afford with the same monthly credit then collapsed.
For example in Le Mans: between 2022 and 2021 the city lost 34 m2and between 2022 and 2019 – 41 m2. One of the reasons: with an m2 at 2,357 euros in 2022, compared to 1,930 euros in 2019, prices have increased by more than 20%.
Saint-Étienne lost 27 million2 in just one year. In addition, 159 m could be acquired in 20192, the largest average living area in France. However, if it is still the city that offers the most beautiful living space, buyers can now buy only 123 m² in 2022. Thus, in three years, the purchasing power of Saint-Etienne residents has decreased by 36 million2.
Last on the podium of the cities that have lost the most real estate purchasing power in a year: Le Havre with – 22 million2. In 2021, a buyer could expect to live in a 99m space2while this year he will have to settle for only 76 m2. The price of m2 it went from 2,269 euros in December 2021 to 2,545 euros in December 2022.
Between 2022 and 2019, Angers is the city that loses the most m2 : that is 42 in total.
Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux… the big cities seem to be doing better
Whatever the period studied, Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux lost fewer m2. Paris registers the lowest loss of real estate purchasing power, i.e. -2 million2thus passing from 19 m2 in 2021 at 17 m2 in 2022. In three years the city has lost 3 m2.
“Prices are so high that, of course, the drop is smaller, but the financeable area remains 4 to 5 times smaller than medium-sized cities,” underlines Maël Bernier, communications director and Meilleurtaux spokesperson, including those that have given their life the space shrinks abruptly.We have to put into perspective with the price per m2. In Paris, it is almost 5 times higher than Le Mans! »
Bordeaux loses 6 million in one year2 and thus passes from a living area of 45 m2 in 2020 at 39 m2 in 2022. In three years the city loses a total of 8 m2. “In the end it’s quite a lot, because Bordeaux had suffered the price hike before 2020. Clearly, the worst was over,” adds Maël Bernier.
Lyon loses exactly the same surface area as Bordeaux, i.e. 6 m2 between December 2022 and December 2021. In three years, Lyon goes from a real estate purchasing power of 43 million2 in 2019 at 34 m2 in 2022, that is – 10 m2.
“The increase in credit rates in 2022 causes a real change in the matrix and the consequences do not spare cities. If between 2021 and 2020 real estate purchasing power more or less stabilized within these metropolises, it will certainly be due to the fact that they were “a bit neglected” after Covid.
Today, in 2022, Paris Lyon and Bordeaux have to absorb the increase in financing rates [taux directeurs de la Banque centrale européenne fixant le coût de l’argent pour les banques au sein de la zone euro, ndlr] “, he remarks.
Dijon, Grenoble, Strasbourg… these mid-range cities that are no less
Loss of real estate purchasing power is widespread. At the center of the ranking is the city of Dijon which, in one year, has lost, certainly less than the other cities, but still 16 million2 and 19 m2 compared to 2019, i.e. a real estate purchasing power of 67 m² in 2022.
The reasons: credit rates, but also the price per m2 which has almost increased by 200 euros in one year. Grenoble has lost 13m² in one year and 16m² compared to 2019, to reach 66m² of real estate purchasing power in 2022.
If Strasbourg shows a loss of only 9 m² in 2022 in one year, it instead shows – 16 m² in 2022 compared to 2019.
* In the period from December 2021 to December 2022 and from December 2019 to December 2022. This is the purchasing power of the property per €1,000 monthly payment over 20 years calculated with a fixed rate of 2.20% over 20 years.
