Jump in housing permits in February

For the month of February alone, according to seasonally adjusted data, some 49.200 building permits were issued, a record since May 2007.

These authorizations, notes the ministry, were granted "following permit applications submitted in December 2021, probably in connection with the entry into force of the 2020 environmental regulations on January 1, 2022."

The "RE2020", which aims to decarbonize housing construction, imposes stricter standards for the thermal insulation of buildings, the environmental impact of their construction and their life cycle.

In particular, it encourages the use of "biosourced" materials, such as wood.

Already in February 2013, the entry into force of a new environmental standard had caused an influx of permit applications in the previous months, notes the ministry.

The jump in building permits, which already began in January, is almost exclusively due to single-family homes. The phenomenon does not seem to affect collective housing, where the number of authorizations varies very little compared to the last months of 2021.

Over the past 12 months, 484.000 building permits have been issued. This is 24% more than a year earlier, but the figures were then at their lowest, suffering from the impact of successive confinements.

The number of housing starts over 12 months reached 390.700, or 12,8% more than a year earlier. The rebound observed in building permits has not yet materialized.