City, countryside, sea… How many square meters can you buy in France with €150,000? – Ouest-France evening edition

A parking space in the 16th arrondissement^e arrondissement of Paris, or a dream villa in the diagonal of the void? While real estate prices have exploded in recent years, what can we buy today with this budget, considered very low? The evening edition has examined the data from the National Real Estate Federation for you. Here is the list of the surface areas in m² that can be obtained for this price in France.

How many square meters can you buy in France with €150,000? The budget seems quite low, when you know that real estate market prices have been reaching peaks in recent years (+15% approximately over five years for houses and apartments). However, the National Real Estate Federation (Fnaim) observes a decline that is accelerating between June 2023 and 2024 (approximately -5%).

Read also: Is the real estate market really on the verge of a nervous breakdown? Charts to help you understand

This “small” sum of €150,000 is, however, unattainable for half of the French. In 2023, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee), half of the population will own 95% of real estate assets, while the richest 10% will own 45% alone. The other half has net assets (real estate or other) of less than €150,000. For those who manage to borrow or amass this amount, what is possible to obtain in France? And above all, where?

15 m² in Neuilly, 108 m² in Saint-Etienne (x7)

Is €150,000 really too little to claim to buy a house? “It depends where you buysmiles Loïc Cantin, president of Fnaim. The current average budget is around €189,000”. Currently, the most expensive city in France is, unsurprisingly, Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-France), with €10,012 per m². For €150,000, you can enjoy a 15 m² room². Conversely, the most affordable city is Saint-Etienne, where you can afford a beautiful house of 108 m² with this same amount, which comes down to paying €1,390 per m². In Brittany, it is better to avoid Nantes, at €3,465 per m², and prefer Brest, at €2,445, i.e. a difference of more than 20 m² to be expected (43 m² against 62m²).

And if your budget is around €200,000, click on the infographic below to find out the size of the apartment or house you could buy in your city, according to Fnaim.

“Three criteria influence pricesexplains Franck Danneyrolle, sales director of Mon Chasseur Immo, a real estate search service. First, the type of property: renovated or not, old, the level of energy consumption… Then, the location, in metropolitan France or not, with access to transport or amenities. Finally, the law of supply and demand. The rarer the product, like a top floor, the more expensive it is.”

The key? Compromise. For this budget, if you want to buy in mainland France, it’s better to be prepared to do some work. Among the latest properties sold recently by Mon chasseur Immo, below €150,000, we find a two-room apartment in Nice, 32 m²… with a lot of work. Double the surface area without work is possible, for €90,000, but outside mainland France, 15 km from Mayenne.

Big cities are becoming less and less accessible

If you feel like twenty years ago you could have had a lot better, that’s not entirely true. “Certainly prices have increased, but borrowing rates have experienced an almost uninterrupted decline, which has given more purchasing power to households.notes Loïc Cantin, president of Fnaim. But it is still more complicated to become a first-time buyer today. The existing market receives almost no public aid.” The problem is especially in big cities. “If you are looking in Nantes, for example, you will have to pay €300,000 for an 80 m ². This is well above the average price.”

The specialist’s advice? Face reality. “The ideal first home does not exist. You have to gradually build up capital, buy and then resell, to become the owner of the house of your dreams. At the beginning, you can only be the owner of a dream.” Patience is therefore the key word. Two other types of less traditional real estate investments can also be good deals, if you are not in a hurry. First, bare ownership. The principle is simple, according to Amaury De Calonne, co-founder and president of Monetiva, a specialist in this type of investment. “You agree to buy a property that is still occupied for a certain period, and we subtract from its price the amount that this period would have represented in rent.”

Free or occupied life annuity, bare ownership… Other options for €150,000

So, if you are determined to wait 15 to 20 years, you can get your hands on a property for €250,000 to €300,000. The advantage? “This discount comes into play from the purchase price, so the capital gain is not taxed, and the property tax is paid by the occupant. Currently, I can offer you a property worth €200,000 in Cannes for €132,000, of 63 m²released in 10 years. Discounts are typically 25% to 50%, for 10 to 20 years of waiting, according to Monetiva figures.

Read also: Advice from the president of Fnaim before buying

Another advantageous solution of the same type, the occupied life annuity, also with an occupancy discount. The difference is that you are not obliged to pay the sum from the start, you can pay it to the occupant until his departure or death, and therefore avoid having to repay a loan to the bank with high interest. The payment period depends on the (theoretical) life expectancy of the resident person, it can be extended or reduced in reality. This can also be the case for bare ownership, except that you receive money if the person stays longer, or you pay it to his family if he dies prematurely. The bet is different.

Buy at any price

But if we want to reach “his real estate dream” earlier, there is still another option: the free life annuity. This also involves paying an annuity to the owner of the property, but living there directly. This is most often a retiree who no longer wants their second home or who decides to leave their home for a retirement home. Here again, the discount is calculated according to the owner’s life expectancy. For Sophie Richard, founder and manager of Viagimmo: “It is also an ethical option, instead of letting your property lie dormant, it is occupied by a person who needs it. And the income received will be spent, and allows VAT to be collected. So to stop tying up money.”

Thus, Franck Danneyrolle of Mon chasseur Immo affirms that even with €150,000 or less, you must buy at all costs: “A lot of people are held back and think that it’s not within their reach. But we can do it, it’s not impossible. But it’s better to invest €150,000 in property, a form of life insurance, rather than being a tenant and losing €150,000 by paying rent for 15 years.”