Do you have to be rich to become a homeowner in Paris?

Let's take a simple, ordinary case.

In Paris, an "average" apartment measures approximately 55 m². At current market prices, it sells for between 600.000 and 650.000 euros, including fees.

Even with a very substantial contribution of 80.000 euros, there is still more than 520.000 euros to finance.

Under current credit conditions, this represents a monthly payment close to 3,000 euros, including insurance.

However, banking rules are clear: to be eligible, you must have between 7.500 and 9.000 euros of net monthly income.

And this is not an exceptional property.

But standard housing, in a city where you work, where you live, where you settle.

The disparity is striking: the median income of a Parisian household is around 3.300 euros net per month.

In other words, today you need more than double the median income to buy an average apartment… in your own city.

Paris has always been an expensive city.

But never so disconnected from the income of those who work there.

Work no longer allows one to buy large quantities of food, and sometimes not even to buy anything at all.

In reality, income is no longer the decisive criterion for access to homeownership.

Existing assets and family circumstances now take precedence: inheritance, donation, parental assistance, transmission.

In other words, access to property in Paris is less and less based on what one earns, and more and more on what one owns or what one receives.

Who can still afford to buy in Paris?

Contrary to popular belief, Parisian buyers are not simply "better paid." They most often follow very specific career paths:

• Those who bought early, sometimes as soon as they arrived in Paris ten or twenty years ago;
• Those who benefit from a substantial family contribution (inheritance, donation, parental support);
• Those who already own property and reinvest a capital gain.

The figures are clear: 40 to 50% of first-time buyers now benefit from significant family support.

Access to property ownership is therefore increasingly based on assets, and less and less on work.

Buying or renting: an economic absurdity?

Another paradox: for the same surface area, renting often costs much less than buying.

A 55 m² apartment rents for around 1.800 to 2.200 euros, while buying imposes a monthly charge of more than 3.000 euros.

Without a substantial down payment, the purchase becomes not only inaccessible, but sometimes economically irrational.

Do you have to be rich?

If being rich means:

• Having a high income,
• Or from family capital,
• Or exceptional financial security,

So the answer is clear.

Yes, today you have to be rich, or have connections, to become a homeowner in Paris.

This observation is neither a slogan nor an ideological stance.

This is the result of a simple equation between prices, rates, banking rules and real incomes.

The issue is therefore no longer individual.

It becomes collective:

What kind of city do we create when only a select few can become owners?

Paris did not become inaccessible by accident.

It became so through accumulation: continuous rise in prices, tightening of credit rules, stagnation of real incomes.

By consistently viewing housing as a financial asset rather than a fundamental need, the city has gradually become insular. It now selects its homeowners not based on their life plans, but on their financial capacity.

The issue therefore goes far beyond the question of purchasing today.

The question is who will still be able to settle, stay, and pass on the torch tomorrow.

Because a city where you can work but never be able to own property is a city that is becoming fragile.

A city where rootedness becomes a privilege is a city that is falling apart.

It remains to be decided whether Paris should be an inhabited city, or a owned city.

Opinion piece by Nicolas Jeff, Real Estate Agent (LinkedIn).