France's housing crisis deepens as new home sales plummet in 2025
France's housing market faced another challenging year in 2025, with sales of new homes declining sharply. Developers sold fewer properties to both private buyers and realtors, while unsold stock continued to grow. The decline follows policy changes, rising costs, and weaker demand from buy-to-let investors.
Sales of newly built homes dropped by 6% in 2025, with developers selling 64,867 units to private buyers. Realtors also pulled back, reserving 53,761 homes—a 7% decrease from 2024. The most significant shift came from buy-to-let investors, whose purchases plunged from around 61,000 homes annually to just 9,469 last year.
The slowdown came despite a 15% increase in building permits, which reached 379,222 approvals. However, only 274,611 homes were actually constructed. Overall, just 118,628 new properties entered the market in 2025, a 6.5% decline from the previous year.
By the end of 2025, unsold homes had risen by 3.5%, leaving a stock of 123,945 properties. One in five development projects was withdrawn from the market, as the industry struggled with longer sales cycles and a shrinking workforce—down by a third since 2022.
The government has responded by introducing new tax incentives, aiming to boost construction by nearly 50,000 homes per year. The measures follow the elimination of the Pinel scheme in 2025, alongside rising construction costs and higher interest rates, which have reduced household demand.
The housing sector now faces a growing surplus of unsold properties and a weakened workforce. With fewer realtors and slower sales, the government's tax incentives will determine whether construction can recover. The market's future depends on whether these measures can offset the impact of higher costs and reduced demand.
