All French people are far from equal when it comes to real estate purchasing power… But there is worse: with rising prices, it has been falling for two years. The point with SeLoger.
Since the real estate purchasing power of the French is connected to household income, but also to housing prices, it varies (sometimes considerably!) from one city to another. For €266,800, i.e. the average price of housing in France in 2021, the surface area that can be purchased varies from simple to sevenfold (and even close to eightfold!).
For €266,800, we have 7.7 times more m² in Saint-Étienne than in Paris
All French people are far from equal when it comes to real estate purchasing power. Judge instead, for the year 2021, the LPI Barometer-Housing calculated that the average price of a dwelling – in the old one – in France was around €266,800. However, the number of square meters, that this sum allows to afford, varies according to the city where one plans to buy. All things being equal, moreover, by spending 266,800 €, it is possible to become the owner of a dwelling with an area of 23 m² in Paris while buying in the city of Saint-Étienne, it is 179 m² , or about 7.7 times more than we can afford.
49 m² in Lyon, 54 m² in Bordeaux, 62 m² in Nantes, 73 m² in Lille…
As you will have understood, in terms of real estate purchasing power, the figures collected by the LPI-SeLoger Barometer highlight significant disparities between cities (more than 100,000 inhabitants, Editor’s note). Clearly, and depending on where you intend to carry out your purchase project, €266,800 – that is to say, let’s remember, the average cost of a property in the old in 2021 – can be converted into accommodation of varying sizes…
Indeed, if we exclude the extreme values of Paris and Saint-Étienne, for €266,800, in 2021, you can acquire:
- 49 m² in Lyon
- 54 m² in Bordeaux
- 57 m² in Nice
- 62 m² in Nantes
- 67 m² in Rennes and Strasbourg
- 72 m² in Toulouse
- 73 m² in Lille
- 77 m² in Montpellier
- 82 m² in Marseilles
- 90 m² in Reims
- 92 m² in Grenoble
- 99 m² in Toulon
- 117 m² in Le Havre
– 11 m² in Reims, – 5 in Strasbourg, -1 in Lyon and Paris….
A quick look in the past (and more precisely on the last two Barometers-LPI) tells us that while the average price of a property – in the old – increases (from €251,000 in 2019, we went to €265,500 in 2020 then to €266,800 in 2021, Editor’s note), the “purchasable” area, meanwhile, is shrinking to a trickle. A few examples of the erosion that has affected real estate purchasing power over the past two years:
- Paris: 1 m² lost since 2019
- Lyon: 1 m² lost
- Saint-Étienne: 1 m² lost
- Rennes: 2 m² lost
- Le Havre: 2 m² lost
- Nice : 4 m² perdus
- Lille: 4 m² lost
- Toulon: 4 m² lost
- Montpellier: 4 m² lost
- Strasbourg: 5 m² lost
- Nantes: 6 m² lost
- Reims: 11 m² lost
Bordeaux and Marseille gain m²
On the other hand, it is interesting to note that in some cities, the purchasable surface has increased. This is the case in Bordeaux (1 m² gained in 2 years), in Marseille (5 m² gained). Finally, real estate purchasing power is stagnating in Toulouse and Grenoble.
