Real estate developers call for exceptional tax assistance

“We have never had such a bad year,” lamented the president of the FPI, Pascal Boulanger, at a press conference.

Caught between rising construction costs and declining buyer purchasing power, due to rising interest rates, developers saw their sales plummet at the end of 2022.

Over the whole of 2022, new housing reservations recorded by the REIT fell by a quarter (24,6%), and even by more than a third (36,3%) in the fourth quarter.

Their level is lower than 2020, an already exceptionally sluggish year due to the pandemic and the lockdowns.

"We have been experiencing, since December, both a supply crisis and a demand crisis", regretted Pascal Boulanger.

"I think it's time to propose a short, exceptional tax measure," he said.

"It could start on May 1 and stop on December 31, because the machine is completely seized up, broken down. That's our request: in an exceptional situation, exceptional measure", he added.

He cited as an example an "amplified" zero-rate loan, a lower VAT for owner-occupiers... or the exemption from inheritance tax on new homes purchased, a measure already taken in 1993-94 under the government of 'Edouard Balladur.

"I know, it's not in tune with the times," he said, acknowledging that this last measure could mainly benefit the richest. "Okay, but what do we do? There, we're down!"