With a plummeting real estate market and purchasing power, should you sell now?

The balance of supply and demand is therefore gradually being restored, with prices falling but with real estate pressure still strong. Faced with this situation, owners are reluctant to sell their property. However, it is precisely the right time to sell your property, because the fall in selling prices could accelerate in the months to come with the decline in purchasing power.

A plummeting real estate market and purchasing power...

After years of post-pandemic record sales, the real estate market in France is experiencing a sharp decline. Prices are falling, the number of transactions is decreasing and mortgage production is down nearly 40% compared to last year. These indicators, all in the red, signal a significant decline in the French real estate market which may be long term.

In April 2023, the fall in prices reached 0,5% at the national level, affecting all categories of goods [1]. Major cities (excluding Nice, Strasbourg, Lille and Le Havre) suffer an average drop of 1% in the first quarter of 2023, while the top 50 French cities see a drop of 0,5%. Even rural areas are down with a drop of 0,1%.

The main reason for this decline is the significant rise in interest rates, which have more than doubled in one year (1,13% in March 2022 to 3,03% in March 2023). This increase in acquisition costs has led to a drop in real estate purchasing power of nearly €70.000 in one year for a buyer who needs to borrow €300.000 over 20 years. Buyers are no longer able to pay for goods at the prices at which they are displayed. This does not mean that owners should stop selling, quite the contrary.

For Guillaume Poutrel, imkiz agent in Lyon: “The challenge in the current context is to position your property at the right price. There is clearly demand but people no longer have the means, due to the rise in interest rates, to pay what they could pay a few months ago. There is a real challenge in selling your property quickly because the market is clearly bearish and with each passing month the property loses its value. »

… but still strong demand from buyers which should encourage sales

Despite this delicate climate, the Real Estate Tension Index remains correct, which reflects a still strong demand for real estate. However, buyers are looking for goods at market price, which explains the drop in the number of transactions.

In order to sell your property before prices drop further in the coming months, it is important to adapt to the market price and offer an attractive price to attract buyers. Goods sold at their fair price are sold quite quickly. Especially since new environmental constraints now await owners with the energy audit. This audit, which aims to provide a detailed inventory of the energy and environmental performance of a dwelling, has been mandatory since April 01, 2023 for goods in category F or G and will be from January 1, 2025 for goods in category E.

For Seller in Marseille and user of the imkiz platform: “I'm rather surprised to have sold my apartment so quickly. The positioning study carried out by the imkiz team allowed me to find out about the prices in my area. With my husband we took the time to take a good look at the estimate and with the help of my adviser we chose a marketing price that was neither too high nor too low to sell our apartment quickly. »

In short, it is crucial for owners to sell their property now in order to take advantage of still stable prices. But faced with this increasingly complex market, it may be interesting to go through a 100% online agency like imkiz to sell your property. imkiz indeed offers a complete service at a fixed rate, not calculated on the price of the good. As for the buyers, they will be able to find more attractive offers because the sellers do not need to inflate their price by 5% to recover the physical agency fees.

[1] according to the Best Agents website