let’s go Property prices in Brittany (including Loire-Atlantique) have fallen since the fall, launched a few months ago at the national level, especially in the Paris region. A trend linked to a decline in the number of transactions (around -25% in the year 2023) against the background of rising interest rates and difficulties in obtaining bank loans. “To revive the market, prices must come down. Sellers are starting to integrate it,” estimates the president of the Interdepartmental Chamber of Notaries of Brittany, Anne Fercoq-Le Guen.
However, according to this Côtes-d’Armor notary, average prices per m² are not “broken”. In the year to the end of December 2023, figures published by notaries on Wednesday 27 March show a 0.3% drop for new apartments and 0.5% for old apartments, while houses rose by 1.2%.
Metropolises are more affected. In Rennes, old apartments account for about 2% and old houses as little as 4%. In Brest, prices for old apartments are almost stable, but new apartments lose about 1% and houses 3%. If the rest of the region is still preserved, it must soon experience a similar fate. Costa Rican notary Nicolas Bosquet estimates, “The reflux that started in the metropolis should spread slowly.” The only exception: Morbihan, a section that attracts a retired or wealthy population, with strong purchasing power.
There is a real enthusiasm for our region and not enough housing, which contributes to maintaining high prices
On the price question, Nantes is closely watched because traditionally, what happens in Rennes has consequences with a delay of a few months and then in the rest of administrative Brittany. However, in the capital of Pays de la Loire, the price decline is more marked than elsewhere, with -5% to -6% at the end of 2023.
A more marked decline in early 2024
And this should not stop, as settlements and sales commitments through January 31, 2024 suggest a decline of 8% to 9% in one year in Lower-Atlantic. The four Breton divisions show between -4% and -7% depending on the goods.
Not a disaster though. Notable because the wave of price cuts starting in Paris affects Brittany “less significantly”, according to Lorient notary Mathilde Terciguel. Furthermore, things now seem “stable” in the Lower-Atlantic. For Cyril Blanchard, a notary in Finistère, “we will by no means return to pre-Covid prices” because “there is real enthusiasm for our region and not enough housing, which contributes to maintaining high prices”. In Brittany, prices have risen by almost 40% in ten years.