Building permits continue to decline in June according to ministry figures

The number of building permits continued to decline in June in France, reaching a historic low since at least 2015, according to provisional data published Tuesday July 30 by the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Between July 2023 and June 2024, 347.900 housing units were authorized for construction, or 15,3% less than in the previous 12 months.

New construction is in a serious crisis. Construction costs have increased significantly due to more expensive materials and stricter environmental standards.

At the same time, buyers suffered from the rise in interest rates and the reduction in public support schemes for new real estate.

This is starting to have effects on employment, with several promoters having announced social plans while smaller players are filing for bankruptcy. The French Building Federation fears 90.000 job losses by the end of 2024, then 150.000 by mid-2025.

In detail, individual houses were the subject of 124.600 authorizations (-18,1%), while collective housing obtained 223.300 (-13,7%).

Within collective housing, residences (students, seniors, etc.) are doing slightly better with a drop of -6,6% compared to -15,4% for ordinary collective housing.

Hauts-de-France and Brittany are doing a little better than the other regions of France, with drops of 1,4% and 5% respectively.

The most tense regions, Île-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Centre-Val de Loire, experienced significant drops in permits issued with -21,1%, 21,1% and -23,5% respectively. .

The number of construction sites started, which traditionally follows that of building permits, also continues to plunge, with 272.800 construction starts between July 2023 and June 2024, a drop of -21,8%, a historically very low number.

The ministry warns, however, that this last figure is more questionable due to a more fragmented collection of data on construction starts.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.