The real estate sector rejects the private landlord status adopted by Parliament

This tax advantage, intended to encourage individuals to invest in housing for rental purposes, had already received the approval of the deputies two weeks earlier, as part of the examination of the draft state budget for 2026, which will continue until mid-December at the earliest.

It provides for a tax depreciation of 3,5% per year for a new intermediate rent dwelling, 4,5% for social housing and 5,5% for so-called very social housing (intended for the most modest incomes), up to a limit of 80% of the value of the property and 8.000 euros per year for a maximum of two dwellings.

A version far from the FPI's expectations, following the publication in June of a parliamentary report that proposed greater tax advantages, including a tax depreciation of 5% per year.

"If the text is adopted as is, there are many cases where it would be more advantageous for the investor not to take the status of private landlord" and to retain one of the existing tax regimes, criticized Pascal Boulanger, president of the FPI, during a press conference on Tuesday.

He claims that a rental investor can expect a return of 1,6% thanks to the status of private landlord, compared to 1,8% without, and that the savings effort remains too high to attract individual investors.

The French Federation of Real Estate Developers (FPI) is all the more angry because the senators had initially amended the text to make it much more advantageous for buyers. The Minister for Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, managed to convince the Senate majority to reduce its scope, arguing that it would be costly for public finances.

The Housing Alliance, which brings together ten professional organizations in the sector, shares this view. "The debates in parliament were heated, yet they only resulted in a marginal measure that will not revive the private rental market," it stated in a press release on Wednesday.

"The restrictions voted on at the initiative of the government and some parliamentarians greatly distort the initial project and move away from the objective of a massive housing stimulus," she added, describing the text voted on as "a niche measure which, at best, will concern a few households."

"Without landlords, there are no tenants and institutional investors alone will not meet the diversity of needs across all territories," she points out.

The senators wanted to "go further, but that comes at a cost," confirmed Dominique Estrosi-Sassone (LR), president of the Senate's Economic Affairs Committee. The adoption of this text is "already a good thing" and constitutes "a strong signal to the private housing sector," even if "it's not the final version," she added to AFP.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.