Housing market: to buy or to rent?

Renting in France

Choosing to rent can be a good way to get a feel for life in France without the commitment of buying a property. Tenants here enjoy a high level of legal protection (eg between November and March it is illegal to evict a tenant for not paying rent), but this is something of a double-edged sword as it can make landlords nervous about taking on clients without lots of information pièces justificatives and a large deposit dépôt de garantie. 

Online database Numbeo’s latest figures reveal that in France, the Price to Rent Ratio - a real estate metric that helps determine whether it is more financially advantageous to buy or rent in a specific area – for a city center apartment is 32.7, compared to 8.8 in the US. A higher ratio suggest renting is favorable over buying, while for a lower ratio the opposite is true.

However, bear in mind there are vast rental price differences according to which part of France you wish to live in – tourist hotspots, major urban centers, etc, versus 

Search for a rental by region 

Use a national map by an estate agent, such as this one, left, by Seloger.com, to research property rental prices – note that they are calculated per square metre. 

Weighing up the pros and cons 

The proportion of people renting in France stands at 40% according to the most recently available figures from Insee (September 2024). Of these, 23% rent privately while the remaining 17% fall under the umbrella of social housing.

Unfurnished rentals (‘location vide’) are far more common than furnished (‘location meublée’), and typically come with a minimum 3-year lease that is automatically renewed unless the proper notice period of 6 months is given. Furnished rentals can be found more frequently in larger cities and urban areas, in order to cater for student and international populations – typically the lease term will be 1 year (or 9 months for students), with a notice period of 3 months. If tenants are served notice and do not observe the timeframe, landlords must follow a rigorous legal process for eviction that can sometimes amount to months or even years. 

Coupled with the fact that rents are usually capped, (increases must follow the Indice de Référence des Loyers (IRL)), as are deposits (one month’s rent for unfurnished and two months’ for furnished), means that landlords vet thoroughly and require watertight paperwork, references and identity checks from prospective tenants (known as a ‘dossier de location’) before they choose a tenant. Know too that it is a legal requirement for tenants to have their own household insurance, which can vary greatly depending on the type of property, its location and its features.

Rental agencies and property websites are best for finding properties, and can offer their own source of information on rental prices alongside the interactive map from the Ministry of Housing source Observatoires des Loyers.

Buying property in France 

Although exact costs for housing will, of course, vary, the widely referenced guideline of housing prices being an average of 34% cheaper than in the US is a broadly realistic rule of thumb. 

In terms of mortgage payments as a salary percentage, however, the US comes out on top. The cost of living database Numbeo highlights France’s property loan affordability index – an inverse of mortgage as percentage of income – at 1.4 compared to 3.2 in the US, with higher values indicating better affordability. 

Note that in the US, the Case-Shiller Index is used for calculating US rates, but there is no universally recognized formula for calculating the same globally. 

For regional breakdown costings, the Notaires de France publishes quarterly property market reports with figures for sales and rentals.

How to buy

For a full guide to buying property in France, turn to Chapter 6.