Stéphane Plaza criticizes “banks that no longer lend”
Are we heading for a crash? The question agitates the world ofreal estate. And not only. The CEO of Nexity warns of “a shock of mad violence» and the boss of Medef Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux predicts “a disaster» if nothing is done and calls on the government to make housing “the great national cause“. Blame it on a shortage of housing for the new market and a collapse in sales for the old. In both cases, the rate of real estate loan is in question. In just over a year, it has multiplied by more than 3 and exceeds 3% over 20 years (3.05%) and over 25 years (3.2%), according to the Credit Housing Observatory. This weighs on the purchasing power of households. The real estate market finds itself blocked between buyers who hope for a reduction in prices to compensate for the rise in rates and sellers who do not want to lower their prices.
But, for Stéphane Plaza, president of the real estate network that bears the same name, the problem, “it’s not the credit rate that increases“. “When you sell in a high (real estate) market, you will buy back with a high market. Whether it’s high or low, it doesn’t matter. The gap is always the same», Analyzes the one who is at the head of the 3rd largest real estate network in France, tied with Laforêt (720 agencies), on France 2 on Sunday evening. The favorite animator of the French targets, on the other hand, the attitude of the banks whichno longer lend money“.
Protection from over-indebtedness and access to credit
Present on the set of the program “8:30 p.m. Le Dimanche”, the Minister of the Economy confirmed that “it’s getting harder and harder» to access real estate credit. To remedy, Bruno the Mayor calls on the Governor of the Banque de France, who is in charge of this file, to relax the conditions for granting credit. According to our information, the preferred runway is not the debt ratio limited to 35%, but the envelope of 20% of derogatory files. “The objective is not to end the criteria of the HCSF (High Council for Financial Stability, Editor’s note) but to find the best balance between protection from over-indebtedness and access to credit“says Bercy.
Currently, it is possible to derogate from the “35% rule” but only 20% of files can do so. Among them, not all borrowers are affected. For these 20% of derogatory files, the banks mainly target first-time buyers (who are buying housing for the first time, editor’s note) and the main residence: 70% of the 20% (i.e. 14% of files). Suffice to say that owners of second homes and investors (6% of files) are the big losers of this rule and therefore have an interest in respecting it. “I would like to relax things a bit. Playing on this derogation can give a boost to real estate. We discuss it with the Governor of the Bank. It is very important that all our compatriots have easier access to mortgage“says Bruno Le Maire.
