'Real estate in the Rouen agglomeration: prices fall, sales decline.'

Real estate prices are falling in the department of Seine-Maritimes, and they have even fallen in Rouen and the surrounding area. On Wednesday, October 11, the interdepartmental chamber of notaries of Aire and Seine-Maritimes painted a gloomy picture of the real estate market in the department. After two years of strong growth driven by the Covid-19 pandemic and the development of remote work, the department's notaries are seeing a clear overbalancing of the market. The reason is soaring interest rates, stricter access to credit and inflation weighing on budgets.

For sales recorded between July 2022 and June 2023, median prices are still rising in Seine-Maritimes, but not as much as before: in secondary housing, the median house price rose by 2.8% and is''185,000 euros, the price per square meter of apartments rose by 6.1% to a median of 2,250 euros per square meter, and the median price of building plots of land of 60,400 euros rose by 2.5% over the year. It is necessary to look at the volume of sales to notice the slowdown in the market: in the departments of Ayr and Seine-Maritimes, 12-15% fewer old houses, 6-9% fewer apartments and 26-30% fewer building plots were sold over the year.

"The current market will be favorable for buyers who have their own funds and need the least credit, such as the elderly or owners who can sell their property," translates Maitre Capucine Leso. A notary in Era, she believes that the market is starting the usual situation of rebalancing:''first sales volumes are reduced, then prices are reduced to a level that will again become acceptable to buyers. But it will take time: 'It will take time for the seller to realize that his house, which he bought at a certain price, improved and decorated, will not sell at the same price, he will probably have to reduce the price by 10-15%, he will not make a profit. Psychologically it's difficult. But this is the phase we will have to enter for this particular market to recover.

In Rouen, prices were down 5.9% and in Grand Quévius, 4.3%

While the west of the department is doing well, with a 6.4% increase in prices in the outskirts of Evreux (median price €252,000) and even 8.6% in Levre (median sale price €194,000) and 10.5% in Montivilliers (€243,000), in Rouen the fall in prices is well marked:''The 5.9% year-on-year decline in median sales price to reach 218,300 euros per house makes the main town of Seine-Maritimes the leader in price reductions in the department. There are also declines in Notre-Dame-de-Bondevilliers and Grands Quévilles: with median prices of 192,800 and 200,000 euros respectively, these localities show declines of 4.4% and 4.3%.

Rouen is doing slightly better in the sale of apartments: the median price per square meter is 2,810 euros, an increase of 4.2%, Grand-Quévius is also up 3.2% at 2,060 euros per square meter. But Mont-Saint-Eignan is down 0.7% (€1,970). In the west, Jvéteau and Saint-Adresse have the strongest growths: 13.9% and 12.5% respectively (€1,870 and €3,090 per square meter).

"We are facing an unheard of crisis in new buildings with''since the Second World War,' worries Guillaume Bazille, chairman of the Supervisory Board for New Buildings in Normandy. As a result, Olonne fears the economic consequences for real estate developers, but above all the difficulties for the construction industry: 'Across France, the Federation of the French construction industry speaks of more than 350,000 jobs destroyed in 2024'. "We are facing a social bomb in the rental market," adds Chairman Olonne. Because of fewer land sales by developers and more restrictive building permits, fewer homes are coming out of the ground. This will ultimately lead to higher prices for renters.