Exemption from gift tax for the purchase of new housing: a first step towards a necessary recovery

Better still, this provision can be combined with the €100.000 allowance per parent already in force and renewable every 15 years. In total, each donee can receive up to €500.000, excluding tax.

By allowing family savings to be released and directed towards a property acquisition, whether to occupy the property or to rent it out, this measure contributes to the revival of a sector that has stalled. We can only regret that the old are not eligible, as was once believed during parliamentary debates.

Bercy seems to - finally - understand that real estate is not only a tax windfall, but also a major economic and social driver.

Bercy rediscovers that real estate is a lever for prosperity

For years, real estate has been viewed solely through the prism of tax, an inexhaustible resource to be tapped. Because billions of euros are flowing into the coffers of the State and local authorities via property tax, housing tax, IFI, property income tax and capital gains tax. And at the forefront are transfer taxes and VAT, which, just a few years ago, brought in up to 18 and 80 billion euros respectively. But above all, behind each rental investment, each purchase, each construction project, jobs are created, craftsmen work, families find housing and regions develop.

With this exemption, the State is taking a turn: rather than slowing down investment, it is encouraging it. A strong signal for individuals, who are finding an incentive to invest without fear of an ever more burdensome framework.

Towards a real status for private lessors?

This measure is a first step, but it must be part of a broader ambition: that of finally giving private investors the place they deserve in the housing economy and, as such, of including existing real estate. A genuine status for private lessors must be created, guaranteeing clear taxation, regulatory stability and balanced protection between lessors and tenants, in both the new and old real estate markets.

There is still a long way to go, but this measure has the merit of showing the way. It remains to be hoped that the State will not stop there, and will understand that reviving housing is much more than a question of figures: it is a social, economic and heritage necessity!

Tribune by Norbert Fanchon, President of the Gambetta Group (LinkedIn).