Dozens of applications for the same studio, excessive conditions to be met in order to rent, high prices… In Lille, a student city, finding an apartment is a real hassle for young people and their parents.
5 p.m. rue des Stations, Lille. Eddie, 43, is waiting for his turn to visit a 30 square meter apartment for his 18 year old son. This Monday, June 24, around ten people set foot in this accommodation, which had been rented for only a few days: the student apartment war had already started several weeks ago.
“I have visitors all evening, until 8 p.m.”, explains the father. An engineer, he must take his free time, after work, to find the ideal apartment for his son. Eddy is getting impatient: he has already visited nearly ten apartments. “We spent our Sunday doing files…”, he specifies. “This needs to be resolved quickly.”
He is far from being alone in the housing race. “We see desperate parents every day”, specifies Constance, who works in a real estate agency in Lille. “Often, they come from far away, they have driven at least two hours and have planned visits… Except that they receive cancellation calls at the last moment. So they tour agencies to hope to visit an apartment.”
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Marine, 23, in a master’s degree in communications, is also looking for a new apartment for the month of September – her roommate is leaving. “When I have an appointment, I get called every time to tell me that the person just before has taken the apartment…”, she sighs. “And even ! Most of the time, I don’t even get a response.”
I have visitors all evening, until 8 p.m.
Eddy, 43 years old, engineerlooking for an apartment for her son
And for good reason: real estate agencies are overwhelmed. As soon as an apartment is put online, especially when it is a property in the city center, “We receive more than thirty calls a day and even more emails.”, assures Constance. Who specifies, however, that in his agency, “we try to call back as many interested people as possible”.
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You must therefore be on the lookout for new announcements, and be the first to express your interest in housing. “We even have people who want to take the apartment directly, without having visited it. Or others who offer us to pay six months’ rent in advance, to be sure of getting it”, specifies Constance. Two prohibited practices, which the Lille agency in which she works systematically refuses.
When I have an appointment, I get called every time to tell me that the person just before has taken the apartment…
Marine, 23 years old, master of communication student
This tension on the real estate market can be explained by different factors. On the one hand, the drop in purchasing power postpones the real estate projects of first-time buyers, who therefore remain tenants. On the other hand, student tenants tend not to move out once summer comes. “They know it will be very difficult to find another one, so they keep their apartments for the summer”, explains Constance. “So there is no longer this turnover that existed before.” Result: there are fewer and fewer properties on the rental market.
And rents continue to increase: they show +3.1% compared to the same period in 2023, according to data from the Capital website. According to the Se Loger website, the average price for a furnished one-room apartment is 25.4 euros per square meter and 20.6 euros per square meter for an unfurnished one in the capital of Flanders. To rent an apartment in Lille, you need to count on average between 704 and 720 euros depending on whether the property is furnished or not.
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A significant cost for students and their parents. Marine hopes to find accommodation “of minimum 25 square meters for a maximum budget of €600”. For Eddy, same budget, for an apartment of 25 square meters at least. The father of the family remembers that when he himself studied in Lille, he paid “600 francs per month, or 90 euros, for 23 square meters.”
The students know that it will be very difficult to find another one, so they keep their apartments for the summer.
Constance, real estate agent in Lille
Constance explains that the conditions for accessing rental are increasingly complex: “with the unpaid rent guarantee taken out by the owner, the student’s guarantor must be on a permanent contract, outside of the trial period and have a remaining amount of at least 1,500 euros after paying the rent”.
The apartment on rue des Stations fits into Marine’s budget. In Eddy’s too. The young girl walks around the living room: 30 square meters, “no waste of space”, the classic student kitchenette… “There is a washing machine connection, it’s raree”, observes the student. “How are you. It looks like what I saw on the ad…”Marine observes the damaged seal of the cooking plate, visibly not packed.
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Eddy, for his part, sees potential: the apartment is large enough, in a neighborhood that he considers secure and “not too close to party places”, so that his son does not lose concentration. Bank. “What’s next?”, he asks the real estate agent. “Competition with other interested people!”, says Constance.
In other words: a manager will be responsible for determining which is the best file for granting the apartment to a tenant. The search is therefore not over for Eddy… While waiting for an answer, the father will therefore continue his research. In case his file does not stand up to the competition.
