what if this was the end of furnished tourist accommodation in the mountains?

Passed by the wayside with the dissolution of the National Assembly last June, the so-called “anti-Airbnb” law resurfaced this fall.

To the point of being definitively adopted and even promulgated in the Official Journal on November 20. The text aims to regulate furnished tourist accommodation: it cuts tax advantages, imposes energy constraints and gives more powers to mayors in order to limit the proliferation of short-term rentals.

In Haute-Savoie, one of the most touristy departments in France, this law finds particular resonance. While many elected officials and permanent residents applaud, many owners grimace.

And if the phenomenon is observed in the plains, as in Annecy, high-altitude towns and villages are all the more affected.

Many pied-à-terre

In many of them, the proportion of second homes is enormous. “If the French real estate stock is made up of 9.7% of second homes, this share rises to 12% in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 24% in Haute-Savoie and well beyond in resorts”reveals Florence Léger, head of the demographic and social studies division at INSEE.

In several of them, this proportion even exceeds 80%: this is the case in Megève, Arâches-la-Frasse, Châtel and even Grand-Bornand…

And these second homes are increasingly rented short-term. The share of properties rented in resorts would have increased from 65% in 2005 to 95% in 2020 according to Cimalpes, a group specializing in mountain sales and rentals.

“The model combining the acquisition of a pied-à-terre and its rental for a good part of the year has become very widespread, particularly with the rise of online rental platforms in the early 2010s” , recalls Maxime Bastard, transactions manager at Cimalpes in Megève.

It must also be said that the model allows you to benefit from tax advantages, without being subject to the constraints linked to long-term rental.

The number of furnished tourist accommodation has therefore exploded over the past 10 years, often destabilizing the real estate market, particularly rental, in many municipalities.

“Many homes have left the traditional rental market for short-term rentals, which are much more profitable. Rental tension then increased, posing major problems of access to housing for permanent residents or seasonal workers”explains Bérengère Servat, deputy president of the Savoie Mont Blanc National Real Estate Federation (FNAIM SMB).

Haute-Savoie is even the second French department with the most furnished tourist accommodation, behind Savoie.

The territory had at least 11,000 at the end of 2023, according to ADN Tourisme, the national federation of institutional tourism stakeholders.

Reduced tax benefits

On November 20, the law aimed at strengthening the regulatory tools for furnished tourist accommodation at the local level was therefore promulgated. Under the micro-BIC tax regime, the text thus lowers the tax allowance on rental income from furnished tourist accommodation from 50 to 30% and from 71 to 50% for classified tourist accommodation (1).

For Thomas Arnéodo, FNAIM SMB referent for the Haut-Savoie resorts, “this tax cut is not the most upsetting element for mountain real estate: the owners already opted, in the majority of cases, for the real regime, allowing them not to be taxed at all on their rental income. »

The energy performance law risks changing things.

New thermal requirements

For any short-term rental of a secondary residence in a tense area, the accommodation must now have an energy performance diagnosis (DPE), and this must be classified E (which prohibits the rental of goods F or G).

For accommodation already rented for a short term, its owner has until 2034 to renovate it, the year from which any accommodation rented, whether long or short term, must be classified at least D.

“However, the altitude penalizes the final grade of the DPE: even if we put 40 cm of insulation and quadruple glazing, it rarely exceeds the grade D at the moment. Even new homes do not always manage to exceed a C rating”notes Thomas Arnéodo.

With the schedule now imposed by law, the project is extensive in resort: the FNAIM SMB counts for example 66% of thermal strainers (classified E, F or G) in Chamonix, 70% in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains , 73% in Megève or even 81% in Morzine.

“I doubt that the letter D is suitable for the mountains. Even if renovating is necessary, a little flexibility would be welcome. Thermal performance above 1,500 m altitude requires greater efforts than on the Côte-d'Azur. also believes Bérengère Servat.

Also, Thomas Arnéodo questions the application of these provisions in resorts like Avoriaz, “designed solely around tourism. »: “If we can no longer rent anything, what happens to the station? There will necessarily need to be adaptations”he says.

As for the impact of these measures on the value of stone, this is the big question for the mountain market.

“The DPE has become an important negotiating lever in the plains. This law, combined with the increase in notary fees (2), will perhaps slow down transactions a little. I think there will be fewer buyers with smaller budgets. But on this type of “pleasure” purchase, wealthy buyers will always be there”glimpses Bérengère Servat.

According to Maxime Bastard, properties with a bad rating will perhaps be the subject of negotiations, “but it also means that the best ranked will be even more valued. »

It is therefore difficult to predict real drops in average prices in the mountains for the moment.

(1) By an independent organization which gives the goods a rating ranging from 1 to 5 stars

(2) Announced mid-November by Prime Minister Michel Barnier