Rent control has "no effect" on rent levels, claims the private observatory Clameur.

At the end of September, a parliamentary report proposed making this system permanent, with MPs Annaïg Le Meur (EPR) and Inaki Echaniz (PS) recalling that the framework was "not intended to lower rents" but to accompany the increase in order to "avoid excessive rents".

On the contrary, argues the Clameur observatory, "rent control has no effect on rents and penalizes the rental supply" in the private sector.

Starting with the question "does rent control lower rents?", Clameur chose two cities, Lille and Lyon, where this experiment was introduced in 2020 and 2021.

Their methodology "is inspired by medical sciences" and "makes it possible to determine the effect of a treatment on a patient," says one of the study's co-authors, Guillaume Toussaint, alongside Arnaud Simon.

Thus, the authors selected a first group, consisting of Lille and Lyon, under rent control and a "control group", comprising comparable cities without rent control, such as Toulouse or Rennes.

"What we are seeing is that the trends remain the same before and after" the introduction of this system in Lille and Lyon, continues Mr. Toussaint, stating that it "has had no effect on the amount of rents".

A conclusion contrary to the study by the Parisian Urban Planning Workshop (APUR): between July 2023 and June 2024, the average rent observed in Paris was 8,2% lower than it would have been in the absence of regulation.

Clameur, for its part, excluded Paris from its analysis, considering that the capital "was a rental market that was too specific and difficult to compare with that of other regional metropolises", Mr. Toussaint points out.

In early September, the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged highlighted the exceeding of authorized ceilings in municipalities that apply rent control in nearly one out of three advertisements.

"Rent control leads to a real moderation of rents," stressed Christophe Robert, general delegate of the Foundation.

A lack of compliance with rent control that affects Clameur less, says the private observatory, which relies on a database of approximately 11 million leases drawn up mainly by professionals who comply with the rules.

At a time of housing crisis in France, illustrated in particular by longer rental periods, Clameur considers rent control "counterproductive for the rental supply".

Rents have increased by 16% over the past ten years, according to the same source, a rise lower than inflation (+24,7%).

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.