age, profession, price paid… who are the French buyers really?

But who are the French real estate buyers? Socio-professional category, average age, transaction price or even type of financing… The Century 21 real estate agency network provides answers to all these questions in its latest assessment of the existing real estate market, presented at the press this Monday, September 30. While the real estate market is turning in favor of buyers, with prices which have plummeted in recent monthswe invite you to discover the typical portrait of a person who buys real estate in September 2024.

To begin, let us specify that the average amount of an acquisition in France amounts to 223,635 euros for an apartment and 265,544 euros for a house in 2024, according to data from Century 21. For comparison, this amount is down -6.1% for houses and -2.1% for apartments, over one year. In other words, the household real estate purchasing power has been in sharp decline for a year, a phenomenon which is mainly explained by the surge in credit rates between the start of 2022 and the end of 2023.

Moreover, unsurprisingly, the vast majority of buyers resort to borrowing (81.5%) to finance the acquisition of their property. The average loan duration is 21.8 years, a decrease of -0.8% over the last twelve months. These difficulties encountered by buyers logically have an impact on sales times, which have increased by an average of 9 days over the last twelve months, reaching 98 days for apartments and 92 days for houses. “After being overheated in 2021 with more than 1.2 million sales, the old real estate market is self-regulating,” analyzes Charles Marikanis, president of Century 21 France. Prices have fallen sharply and buyers are taking longer to realize their project».

Investment represents a quarter of sales

The majority of French households buy real estate to live in since 66% of transactions are carried out for primary residence. Second homes represent 7.5% of transactions while rental investments represent a quarter of sales (25.6%). “This demonstrates the preference of the French for real estate investment rather than in other supports such as the Livret A, at a time when a drop in its remuneration is predicted.», rejoices Charles Marikanis. Regarding the surface area of ​​housing purchased by the French in 2024, it amounts on average to 112.8 square meters for houses and 57.3 square meters for apartments, areas down very slightly over the twelve last months (-0.5 square meters).

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What are the profiles of these famous buyers, who are finally back in numbers on the real estate market this fall? Still according to Century 21, the majority of buyers are aged 30 to 40 (24.1%). Young people under 30 are also particularly represented among buyers (20.2%), followed by those aged 40-50 (18.9%). Note that retirees remain active on the real estate market since they represent no less than 19.8% of real estate transactions in 2024! Regarding professional categories, employees and workers are the most likely to buy a property in 2024 (33.2%). This is followed by middle managers (26.1%), senior managers and liberal professions (17.1%) and retirees (16.6%). Artisan merchants represent 7% of real estate transactions.