The recovery continues in the existing housing market, but rising prices are a cause for concern

Sales of existing homes continued to rise in the third quarter, as has been the case for a year according to the Notaires-Insee index published on Thursday, November 20, but the 0,7% increase in prices is being closely monitored with fears that a rebound will deter buyers.

The number of transactions recorded over the past twelve months is estimated at 921.000 at the end of September, after 907.000 at the end of June.

"This annual volume of transactions continues its rise which began in October 2024, after a continuous decline since the end of April 2022", specifies INSEE.

In the real estate agencies of the Orpi network, "agents have regained their morale", "sales mandates are coming in again", "buyers are there and sellers who had gotten carried away" have agreed to lower their prices a little, notes Guillaume Martinaud, president of Orpi.

According to the latest SeLoger-Meilleurs Agents real estate barometer, published in early November, real estate buyers are back with demand having increased by 9% in October 2025 compared to the previous year, returning to the level observed in October 2021, before the rise in interest rates.

"By 2025, buyers had adapted to the new interest rate landscape, and demand was picking up again, but in a more selective way," according to the barometer. Rural areas and houses, in particular, were proving more attractive.

Households buying their first property "have returned because prices have fallen," says Guillaume Martinaud, who nevertheless does not see them taking a dominant place in the market.

As proof, the cumulative amount of new mortgage loans granted between January and September is up sharply by 38% compared to the first nine months of 2024, according to the Bank of France. First-time buyers account for more than half (53%) of these new loans.

These volumes of mortgage loans granted had fallen sharply between mid-2022 and early 2024, at the time of the rise in interest rates, the trigger for the real estate market crisis, which affected both old and new properties.

"Real momentum"

Rental investors have, however, virtually disappeared, discouraged by the obligation to renovate the most energy-intensive housing and the rent control applied in Paris, according to Thomas Chaumeron, manager of the ISR real estate agency in the center of Paris.

"We're not out of the woods yet, but we need to find accommodation," emphasizes Guillaume Martinaud, who "will monitor that prices don't spiral out of control, otherwise we'll break the machine."

In the third quarter, prices for existing properties were 0,7% above the level observed in the same period last year, according to the Notaires-Insee reference index. Compared to the previous quarter, from April to June, they remained stable.

In detail, prices increased by 1,3% for apartments and by 0,2% for houses over the past year.

Outside the Île-de-France region, they are almost stable (-0,1%) over the quarter and up 0,7% year-on-year. A similar increase was observed in the previous quarter.

In the Île-de-France region, prices rose slightly by 0,2% compared to the second quarter, with a more pronounced increase for Parisian apartments (+1,1%). Over the past year, existing properties in the Île-de-France region have seen price growth of 0,4%, a first after ten consecutive quarters of decline.

With a total of 121.790 transactions from October 2024 to the end of September 2025, housing sales increased by 11% in Ile-de-France over a year, compared to the same twelve months previously, according to the Notaries of Greater Paris.

"This is an improvement in the situation, which remains at unusually low levels," commented Elodie Frémont, president of the real estate statistics commission of the notaries of Greater Paris, at a conference. She believes that the observed price decrease remains "insufficient, but it allows for a slight redeployment of activity."

At his Parisian real estate agency, La Garçonnière Immobilier, Bertrand Aubrun observes a "recovery in sales volumes" and "relatively stable prices." "There has been real momentum for the past three weeks to a month," and the end of 2025 or the first months of 2026 "could probably be very promising," explains this professional based on the edge of the Marais district.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.