The outlook is struggling to clear up on the rental market. According to the real estate portal SeLoger, the supply of housing for rent fell once again, by -4.4% year-on-year, in October 2024, nationally. The decline is, however, less marked than in the previous two years (-8.6% over one year in October 2023 and -22.1% over one year in October 2022). This critical situation, with a rental supply stabilizing at a particularly low level, is mainly explained by the sudden increase in interest rates between the start of 2022 and the end of 2023. “Blocked in their purchase plans, many tenants found themselves forced to stay in their homes, making it impossible to “roll over” with new tenants.explains Alexandra Verlhiac, economist at SeLoger. This phenomenon thus prevents the stock of rental properties from being replenished.».
In detail, the situation remains particularly heterogeneous within the ten largest French cities. The stock of properties available for rental, for example, collapsed in October 2024 over one year in Lille (-14.2%), Nice (-28.7%), Strasbourg (-29.6%) and even Rennes (-21.7%). Conversely, the number of available housing units is increasing in Bordeaux (+5.9% in October 2024 over one year), Marseille (+8%) and Nantes (+7.7%). In Lyon and Rennes, the stock of goods also fell in October year-on-year (respectively -11.7% and -21.7%), while it was still increasing the previous year.
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Rents are still increasing
And as bad news never comes alone, this very low level of supply of properties for rent, combined with still very high demand, particularly in large cities, automatically leads to an increase in rents. Still according to SeLoger, rents have increased by +4% on average nationally in October 2024 over one year. The increase even reached +4.7% in the 10 largest cities in the country and +4.3% for all of the 50 most populous municipalities.
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The only glimmer of hope for rental candidates is the drop in mortgage rates, which has been underway since the start of 2024, should lead to an unblocking of the transaction market. “The slight improvement in the real estate purchasing power of the French allows
to bring a breath of fresh air to the French rental market, continues Alexandra Verlhiac. The next political decisions could be the opportunity to contribute to the improvement of this rental market beyond simple adjustment by the market».
