A deteriorating economic situation in the building trade
Despite a rather favourable macroeconomic environment (fall in key rates and inflation), the building trades saw a decline in activity, -3,9% over the year, mainly caused by a further decline in new construction (-8,5%), but also a decline in maintenance renovation (-1%), including energy renovation (-0,5%). The decline in activity concerns all regions and all trades.
Memo: Figures for the 4th quarter of 2024
- Building craft activity: -6%
- New construction: -13%
- Maintenance and renovation: -1,5%
If order books are still two and a half months away, this visibility is mainly due to the reduction in companies' production capacities. Over the year, around 21.000 jobs were eliminated. And intentions to lay off or not renew contracts are still on the rise and are higher than the share of companies planning to hire. As for cash flow, it is becoming more strained and bankruptcies are continuing to increase.
In line with its union action, "We take our responsibilities and you?", CAPEB denounces the irresponsibility shown by political decision-makers in the face of the difficulties of craft businesses and refuses any projection of activity for 2025, as it is so impacted by the decisions of the public authorities.
Quarter after quarter, CAPEB warns of the economic difficulties of the sector and proposes pragmatic and adapted solutions, in the general interest and with an ambition to reduce public deficits. However, these proposals come up against a lack of consideration on the part of the public authorities.
Relying exclusively on new construction to address the housing crisis: an unfounded strategy
The Government seems to be focusing its efforts on new construction, in particular by expanding the PTZ to resolve the housing crisis. However, this strategy does not meet the needs. According to ADEME, the required new housing stock is between 120.000 and 350.000 units per year. With 330.900 permits and 258.500 construction starts planned for 2025, CAPEB estimates that the new construction effort is already within the range of identified needs. Housing reservations are significantly lower than new housing sales, which raises questions about a policy that continues to focus solely on new construction.
The "housing crisis" is only understood by the public authorities through the prism of new construction. However, renovation offers considerable potential for housing:
- 11 million homes, or 1/3 of the French stock, are in old or heritage buildings.
- 3,1 million homes are vacant, or 8% of housing.
- 5,8 million homes are thermal sieves, of which 567.000 can no longer be rented since January 1.
- 2 million m² of offices could be transformed into housing.
- 80% of housing in 2050 already exists and will need to be renovated.
Furthermore, the gains from renovation go far beyond the additional supply of housing. Renovation helps conserve resources (80 times more materials are needed to build a multi-family home than to renovate an equivalent building), and €10 billion per year in health costs could be avoided if all thermal sieves were renovated by 2028.
Instead of acting in this direction, the Government has chosen to significantly cut the resources dedicated to MaPrimeRénov' to reduce State expenditure, which will also be increased by the favorable measures it has taken in favor of new construction. This is a political error that will worsen the already fragile situation of VSEs in the construction industry, which are largely involved in renovation, and which will miss the real needs of the French.
Growing exasperation among craftsmen
CAPEB deplores the fact that the decisions taken are too rarely favorable to VSEs in the construction sector. However, many organizations, including government agencies such as ADEME, agree on the potential that renovation offers in terms of housing. Gabriel Attal's government even spoke out in favor of CAPEB's proposals to boost energy renovation, proposals that have still not been implemented to this day. As a result:
- The number of RGE (Recognized Environmental Guarantor) companies remains the same as in 2015, while the ecological transition is a national priority.
- Access to RGE qualification through Validation of Acquired Experience (VAE), which would allow a greater number of companies to contribute to the energy renovation market, has been awaiting a decision for a year.
- The limitation of subcontracting to two tiers has still not been implemented, although it would help combat fraud and clean up the market.
A call for fair recognition of VSEs
In his general policy speech, François Bayrou advocated social democracy. For CAPEB, this necessarily involves taking VSEs into consideration and making concrete political decisions that are favorable to them. CAPEB calls on public authorities to take into consideration the central role of VSEs in the French economy. They represent a "hidden treasure" that contributes to meeting societal and environmental challenges.
For Jean-Christophe Repon, president of CAPEB: "We have reached a point of no return: we cannot continue to call for social democracy while making decisions that penalize our craft businesses. A major societal and environmental challenge is before us, but our businesses, which are working to meet it, are still not among the national priorities. To date, political actions do not reflect any real understanding of the issues facing craftsmen. We warn of the economic and social ineptitude of ignoring the potential represented by renovation and betting everything on new construction, and we will continue to propose solutions. It is now imperative to implement them."
Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.