New and old housing: the fall in prices is “almost generalized” in Languedoc-Roussillon

Me Philippe Martin, notary in Narbonne and president of the Regional Council of Notaries of the Court of Appeal of Montpellier, which brings together the departmental chambers of Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Hérault and Aveyron (1) , united within the Notaries of the South, is almost embarrassed by it. “I would have preferred to tell you much better news”he said on Thursday evening, presenting the statistical overview of the regional real estate market.

He hardly needed to apologize. The situation in the real estate sector in Languedoc Roussillon is not encouraging. And this is not from today. But the figures from the region’s notaries have at least one merit: they provide indisputable statistical support for the slump into which the sector has been plunged since the end of 2022.

No department is spared from the decline

This slump observed by notaries, which is based on the volume of official documents, can be summed up in four figures. One per department concerned, it illustrates the drop in the volume of transactions (all goods combined), recorded between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

No department is spared: – 21% for Aveyron, – 19% for Aude, – 29% for Hérault and – 28% for the Pyrénées-Orientales. “This gives the reality of the current situation”slips Me Philippe Martin. Who adds that “real estate is under pressure, not only in terms of prices, but also in terms of volumes”.

“Almost generalized drop in prices”

What is new is that “this drop in transactions is accompanied by an almost generalized drop in prices in the region”. At the end of last June, in Occitanie, the median sales prices of old houses showed a drop of almost 4%, while those of old apartments showed virtual stability (a little less than 1%).

In Hérault, for example, prices per median m² for new homes are down 0.8%, to 4,680 euros per m². “This drop in prices is surprisingly moderate given the drop in sales volumes in the department, which fell by 51%,” comments Me Valéry Flandin, notary in Prades, near Montpellier, member of the Hérault Chamber of Notaries.

Montpellier prices at the highest national level

This drop in prices is even more marked in the other departments of the region. In the former, it shows -3.3% in Aveyron, at 1,740 euros per m², and -1.2% in Aude, at 2,330 euros. Only the Pyrénées-Orientales department recorded an increase in the median price per m² in old buildings, with an increase of 3.7%, to 2,370 euros.

“Prices in old properties in Occitania are holding up better than at the national level”, however, tempers Me Philippe Martin. Even if they resist better, they still remain high. “The prices observed in Montpellier remain well above the departmental average for Hérault and even well above the national average for the province, excluding the Paris region,” insists Me Valéry Flandin.

Strong increases over the last ten years

Indeed, if we go beyond the short time dictated by the last two years which firmly anchored the crisis in the sector, access to real estate still remains very difficult for many property candidates. You only need to look at the evolution of prices per m² over the last ten years to be convinced of this.

Thus, in Occitanie, the median price per m² in old properties increased by 19.3%. With differentiated variations depending on the departments: + 36.6% in Aveyron (although with fairly low prices), + 24.6% in Hérault, + 20.9% in the Pyrénées-Orientales and + 10% in the ‘Aude.

A “reprogramming of the real estate environment”

It is therefore wiser to put into perspective the announcement of the drop in prices observed by notaries in the region in recent months. And we would be seeing more of a change in the sector than a return to wisdom on the part of sellers. “We are facing a reprogramming of the real estate environmentanalyzes Me Philippe Martin. The real estate of tomorrow will not necessarily be that which we have known in past periods”.

And even if the sector has this in its own right, which is that it is punctuated by cycles alternating crises and improvements, it seems that a major change is in the process of being initiated. “The return of advantageous conditions, both regarding access to credit and interest rates, will not be enough to quickly recover all real estate sectors,” declares Me Valéry Flandin. Above all, he adds, “if the government does not completely renew its housing policy”.