"We are emerging from a monstrous crisis": Nexity CEO wants to believe in the recovery of real estate

The sharp rise in interest rates from 2022 has increased the cost of borrowing for households, who have largely put their property purchase plans on hold. This blockage has seized up all sectors of the real estate sector - new, old, social - and has created inertia in the rental stock that is now leading to a housing crisis.

Question: What is the context for new construction at the start of 2025?

Veronique Bédague: "There is a negative element: the economic and political uncertainty that weighs on everyone.

But I think there are also four factors that are pushing for a gradual and gentle recovery in real estate.

On the one hand, interest rates have fallen and they will fall a little further, to a rate environment around 3%.

The second element is that individuals want to buy. They have been prevented from doing so for three or four years now, they have not been able to move. There are all these young couples who would like to have a child, but who cannot because their accommodation is too small.

Then, the banks went back on the attack on mortgage credit. It's business for them, it allows them to attract new customers, so I think they're going to be creative and they're going to come up with products.

New housing is now very attractive: it is housing where you are sure that your energy performance diagnosis is correct, your energy consumption is lower, you do not have to do any work for the next ten years. So there is a rise in appetite for new housing.

Question: How does this renewed appetite impact your business?

Veronique Bédague: "As soon as there are a few announcements in the air on measures related to housing, we receive a lot of calls to the call center. The zero-rate loan throughout the territory and on individual houses is extremely anticipated, we have a lot of requests on its arrival date.

We need to get back to retail. That's what allows individuals to have access to property, that's what meets the demand for home ownership. And I think that demand for home ownership is really still there. There are a lot of people who prefer to own their own homes when they reach retirement age. We're also seeing a renewed interest in real estate investing in newspapers.

We are coming out of a monstrous crisis, which has hit developers very hard since 2022, behind it there is the entire construction industry which will be affected, and then individuals will feel it (the crisis, Editor's note) in 2026-2027.

Question: What is the state of mind of mayors regarding new construction?

Veronique Bédague: "They are very aware that there is a housing problem, everywhere in the territory. They are aware that many young people have excluded themselves from the hearts of cities today, and that there is a need for smaller housing, precisely for these young people. They also see that prices are rising and that the stock of housing available for rent in the private sector is decreasing.

And above all, they see the lines of applicants for social housing growing longer. So I think they really understand what the housing crisis is for our fellow citizens today.

Mayors want projects with several things, not just housing, but also businesses, living spaces... a whole planning logic.