the number of sales falls by 17% over one year, according to the annual report of the Notaries of France

Housing prices continued to fall. Buyers can now afford 3 m2 more than in 2023 in the old property for the same price.

2024 is a bad year for real estate. This is the assessment drawn up by the Notaries of France, published Monday December 16. The total volume of home sales fell 17% year-on-year, with only 780,000 transactions recorded.

The survey by Notaries of France (former Superior Council of Notaries) also highlights that housing prices continue to fall in almost all large cities, making it possible to purchase a property with a slightly larger surface area with the same monthly payments than before.

With monthly repayments representing a third of their income, households can buy this year an old home of 77 m2 on average in France, or 3 m2 more than last year. The situation differs depending on the region. Notaires de France calculates that a monthly payment of 800 euros over 20 years allows you to become the owner of an apartment of 111 m2 in Saint-Étienne, but only 12 m2 in Paris, 29 m2 in Lyon or 41 m2 in Marseille as in Toulouse. The biggest declines in prices were recorded in Nantes and Lyon, with drops approaching or even exceeding 9%.

According to this survey, the decline is almost general in the main metropolises, except in Nice. For apartments, it is the second most expensive city in France behind Paris, where the price per square meter has increased very slightly this year.