Anger rises among construction professionals who launch last chance appeal

Like other professional federations, the Pôle Habitat reporteda “cataclysmic” year 2023 for new real estate, with an even gloomy outlook for 2024.

Developers and builders are caught between, on the one hand, rising construction costs, caused by material costs and stricter environmental regulations; and on the other hand, the collapse of demand, due to difficulties in accessing credit and the gradual end of tax incentives.

In 2023, sales of new single-family homes fell by 39%, according to figures from the Pôle Habitat, with only 58.500 sales recorded.

These poor figures are starting to have effects on employment, warned the Pôle Habitat.

“Until now, we were more in the process of adjustment, namely non-replacement of people who could leave (...). We are seeing that there are starting to be social plans in certain structures,” noted the president of the Pôle Habitat, Grégory Monod.

According to a survey carried out by the federation among its members, 16% of jobs were eliminated in 2023, and an additional 14% are likely to be eliminated in the first half of 2024.

“We feel that anger is growing among our members,” said Grégory Monod, when asked about the recent mobilization of farmers.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has declared housing as one of the priorities of his action, although the housing world has until now rather criticized the executive for having aggravated the crisis with budget cuts.

Thursday, the presidents of professional construction federations in Rhône-Alpes refused to meet the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, asking him for “action”.

“I also understand that there can be this kind of reaction, and in some ways I support them,” expressed Grégory Monod.

“As long as we don't have anything concrete, we risk always having reactions like these and increasingly strong actions in the territories, and on that, we can only say: 'you are reaping what you have sown."

“We've been telling them for several months that things could still explode, and here, I dare to hope that they will understand that this is really likely to happen,” he added.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.