“Despite a less favorable tax framework, short-term rentals will remain more lucrative than long-term rentals in tourist areas”

Lhe 2025 finance law, by reducing tax advantages for short-term furnished rentals, aims to encourage owners to opt for long-term leases in order to support the residential market. But this uniform approach, relevant in certain large cities, could prove unsuitable in other regions where tourist demand is low. Such a measure could fail on a national scale due to the contrasting dynamics of the French rental market.

The choices of owners using collaborative platforms such as Airbnb directly depend on local conditions (“What Drives Pricing Behavior in Peer-to-Peer Markets”, Mehdi Farajallah, Robert G. Hammond, Thierry Pénard, SSRN, 2016). In Paris, where the tourist influx remains massive, a landlord in the Marais or Montmartre will find little incentive to switch to a long-term lease, even taking into account the reductions in tax advantages.

Cities like Chamonix (Haute-Savoie) have chosen to specifically regulate seasonal rentals to respond to rising property prices. But in medium-sized towns like Poitiers, where tourist demand is lower, the incentive to maintain short-term rental accommodation is necessarily less.

Despite a less favorable tax framework, short-term rentals will remain more lucrative than long-term rentals in tourist areas, which slows down the reorientation towards traditional leases. THE “superhosts” Airbnb, particularly in high-traffic cities, has high occupancy rates and captures higher revenue because users favor well-rated listings (“Trust and Reputation in the Sharing Economy: The Role of Personal Photos on Airbnb,” Eyal Ert, Aliza Fleischer and Nathan Magen, SSRN, 2015). The Paris 2024 Olympic Games illustrate this financial attraction: Parisian owners, seeing it as a favorable opportunity, have rented their accommodation at rates reaching 800 euros per night (The WorldJuly 22).

Costly eviction procedures

In France, long-term rental involves obligations that make owners reluctant to opt for this model, especially in areas where the tourist influx is seasonal. Regulations aimed at protecting tenants, although necessary, hold back landlords, who fear late payments or lengthy and costly eviction procedures (“Digital Discrimination: The Case of Airbnb.com”, Benjamin Edelman and Michael Luca, Harvard Business School, 2014). Young workers and students are finding it increasingly difficult to access long-term rentals, thus illustrating an imbalance between supply and demand for housing (The WorldOctober 10).

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