A glimmer of hope for buyers? The rise in prices of old houses has slowed in Haute-Savoie.
” Finally ! “, Those who want to buy a house in the department will be delighted. Because, for years, the value of this type of property has not only increased, it has skyrocketed.
Prices soar
To the point of dashing the dreams of home ownership for many Haute-Savoie households. It’s simple: the median budget for buying a house in the department was, just before the health crisis, €376,900.
Four years later, it is €466,400. The surge in house prices is even more striking in certain areas.
As around Lake Annecy, where the median budget has gone, still over the last four years, from €596,000 to €797,500! Even elsewhere, no municipality has escaped the rise in prices in recent years.
Time for deceleration
The rise in credit rates, which began in the first half of 2022, took time, compared to the rest of France, to slow down the momentum in Haute-Savoie.
House prices increasing by a further 4-5% over 12 months throughout 2023. “An upward trend that is mainly explained by the strong purchasing power of a large part of the territory’s population, who work in Switzerland and benefit from a favorable exchange rate, partly offsetting the rise in credit rates,” analysis Sébastien Cartier, president of the National Federation of Savoie Mont Blanc Real Estate (FNAIM SMB).
But the wind finally seems to be turning in favor of buyers. According to the latest statistics from notaries, the value of houses in Haute-Savoie has only increased by 1.4% over a year.
A slight increase, a sign that sales at “love at first sight” prices are a thing of the past! Buyers are trying to negotiate the price of houses, much more than before.
For many real estate agents, the rising statistics from notaries, based on sales deeds signed over the past year, do not fully reflect the reality of the current market.
Franklin Vallat, director of the Vallat Immobilier agencies in Haute-Savoie, even speaks, for this spring 2024, of “stability”or even “decrease in many areas of the department.”
Thinking buyers
“Buyers no longer buy anything at any price. On the one hand, they have reached such levels that the solvency of many buyers is necessarily called into question in any case. On the other hand, there are structural causes: many houses for sale date from the 1960s to the 1980s and often require major renovation work, particularly in terms of thermal insulation,” explains Franklin Vallat.
And this is not anecdotal: “Buyers are increasingly paying attention to energy consumption,” confirms Sébastien Cartier.
It must be said that with the rise in energy costs, the heating bill for an individual house can quickly soar in an area like Haute-Savoie.
Slowdown in prices
Buyers are all the more sensitive to this issue because, even if they have no absolute obligation to renovate, they are supposed to receive from the sellers, from the first visit, an energy audit estimating the potential cost of renovation work when the house has an energy performance diagnosis (DPE) of class F or G.
And of course, it’s a good basis for negotiation! This explains why buyers are now trying to negotiate the price of houses a little more…
Which often leads to a slowdown in prices. But the department is not a uniform whole. Not all areas are in the same boat.
The most popular markets remain on the rise
“Even if the slowdown is very real, the price drops must be put into perspective,” tempers Sébastien Cartier. According to the president of the FNAIM SMB, “For very well-located houses, close to city centres, on the shores of Lake Annecy or on a strategic road, buyers continue to pay the price. The slowdown is much more visible in the sectors that are usually described as “deferral”.
A reasoning that is perfectly reflected in the notaries’ figures: the price of old houses continues to rise in the commune of Annecy (€720,000; +6% over one year), in its outskirts (€602,000; +9.5%) and around the lake (€797,500; +9.5%).
More accessible stable markets
On the other hand, prices are stable in Albanais (€386,700; +0.6%) and Frangy (€360,000; -0.8%), two sectors traditionally favoured by more modest households, excluded from the Annecy market.
Further north, from Cruseilles to the French Genevois, passing through the entire Lake Geneva area, the price of old houses, whose median value fluctuates between €450,000 and €520,000, has also stopped increasing.
The right time to buy
Even though the market has slowed down, it is not a big sale. “Haute-Savoie is still as attractive as ever, the demographics continue to increase: the need for housing remains very high”underlines Jean-Christian Bozon, director of the Charmilles Immobilier agency in Pringy and vice-president of the FNAIM SMB. “The market slowdown observed since the second half of 2023 is just a passing phase.”
Although the price surges seen after the lockdowns will probably not happen again any time soon, the market will start to rise again as soon as financing conditions become favourable again.
Kathie Werquin-Wattebled, regional director of the Banque de France, also believes that “Bank borrowing rates are expected to fall back to between 2 and 2.5% by early 2025.”
The right time to buy
According to many heritage experts, it is therefore the right time to buy, particularly an old house in Haute-Savoie.
Banks are lending more easily than in 2023 and a loan at 3.80% can always be renegotiated when rates fall further.
Furthermore, buying a house in Haute-Savoie remains more than ever a safe bet. “The stock of old houses for sale is shrinking year after year, because fewer and fewer are being built. Public policies are tending towards the collective. However, the house continues to be a dream for 8 out of 10 French people and is a response to the housing needs of families. In short, buying a house now means owning a luxury property tomorrow,” concludes Sébastien Cartier.
