A law of supply and demand. In Rennes and its metropolis, the inhabitants were able to see what an unbalanced real estate market could generate. In recent years, the Breton capital has been a victim of its attractiveness and has seen its prices soar to reach the unreasonable figure of 5,628 euros per square meter in new buildings.
The situation is hardly more enviable in the 42 other municipalities of the metropolis, where the average is balanced at 4,228 euros. To deal with this, the metropolitan council has adopted strategic guidelines for its future local housing plan, which should come into force at the end of 2023. The community intends in particular to generalize the dissociation of land and buildings to limit speculation. Explanations.
Buy only the walls
Created in 2018, the solidarity land office of the metropolis has so far only concerned eight municipalities. Tomorrow, it will be extended to 31 of the 43 municipalities in the territory where the price of housing has risen the most. Its principle? The building designed by the promoter is sold to private individuals, but the latter only buy the walls. The community remains the owner of the land, avoiding uncontrolled speculation.
“Land is a collective good and housing is not a commodity. The objective is to put a brake on the rise in prices, ”assumes Honoré Puil, vice-president of housing. In exchange for an attractive price, the owner will be forced to resell at a regulated price for eighteen years.
When you look at the numbers, it works. With the real solidarity lease, the price drops to 2,200 euros per square meter for a new apartment. The president of the metropolis goes even further in her commitment: “The community has a stock of public land. We have less and less but we have some. And there, the rule is simple: we no longer sell, ”says Nathalie Appéré.
The idea of this solidarity land office had germinated when young owners helped by the community had sold their housing at exorbitant prices, even though they had benefited from financial support. “Once sold, housing loses its social purpose. This device therefore only benefits the first buyer who is free to resell his property as he sees fit,” said Honoré Puil at the time. With the OFS, it is the metropolis that remains the owner of the land and makes it available to a promoter in exchange for a fee. The day the accommodation is resold, its price will remain regulated. The device even comes to be extended to business premises for a few days.
Fewer interested promoters?
Some elected officials fear, however, that the system will cool developers, already faced with an increase in the cost of construction linked to the surge in certain materials. “He will continue to build housing, I’m not worried,” says Nathalie Appéré. The metropolis has set itself the goal of building 5,000 new homes per year, 10% of which will be “recycled” from existing buildings but assigned to other uses.