Housing building permits down over the last three months but up slightly over one year

An "exceptional" number of permit applications had been submitted in December 2021, before the entry into force of the RE2020 environmental regulations, as well as in August 2022 "before the deadline for eligibility for the recovery aid for sustainable construction," the ministry said.

“These exceptional increases, linked to anticipatory behavior, had the counterpart of sharp drops in authorizations in the months that followed,” he added.

The objective of RE2020 is to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new construction. It encourages building using so-called "biosourced" materials, such as wood, rather than the more traditional concrete or steel, the production of which is polluting and requires new housing to be better insulated and to have a moderate impact on the climate.

However, the number of building permits issued between December 2021 and November 2022 increased by 5,6% compared to the same period a year ago.

In the past 12 months, "491.200 homes have been authorized for construction, 25.900 more than in the previous 12 months," the ministry said.

The number of residential accommodation permits experienced "the strongest increase" of the different categories of accommodation with an increase of 16,6% over one year. Those of ordinary collective dwellings show an increase of 13,6%, and those of grouped individual dwellings of 11,9%. Pure individual housing, already down over the period November 2021 to October 2022, continued to decrease (-10,4%).