A change in regulations that came into effect at the beginning of July will have a significant impact on tenants and first-time buyers in some 900 French towns.
The housing crisis in France has been much talked about in recent years. However, the situation is not new: in 2014, in application of article D. 304-1 of the construction and housing code, a decree classified French municipalities into different zones, depending on the tension observed on the real estate market in each of them.
Called “ABC” zoning, this classification is made up of five categories marked Abis, A, B1, B2 and C, in descending order of imbalance observed between the supply and demand for housing. And this classification is not just an administrative coquetry, it has a very real impact on the real estate market in cities, in terms of home ownership and rent control for example.
Cities belonging to categories Abis, A and B1, which are considered “tense zones”. Warning! The concept of tense zone of the ABC zoning, although it bears the same name, has no impact on the duration of the notice period for terminating a residential lease in cities known as “tense zones”. This homonymous classification is governed by decree no. 2023-822 of August 25, 2023, and it is possible to know the zone to which your accommodation belongs with the simulator of the service-public.fr site.
The ABC zoning, for its part, determines the cities that benefit from financial aid for home ownership and rental investment, in order to encourage the construction of housing. In municipalities classified Abis, A and B1, first-time buyers can thus obtain a Zero Rate Loan (PTZ), for the purchase of a new home in a collective building, an interest-free loan that can cover up to 50% of the purchase price of the property.
Classification in one of the above categories also allows low-rent housing organizations and companies (OPHLM and SAHLM) to access specific loans for the creation of Intermediate Rental Housing (LLi). These housing units, whose rents are higher than those of the classic HLM stock but lower than those of the private stock, are accessible to people exceeding the usual resource ceilings for social housing, and are mainly intended for the middle classes.
A city’s membership in category Abis, A or B1 of the ABC zoning therefore has a strong impact on its residents’ access to housing, and can be a real boon for some. And precisely, the decree of July 5, 2024 has just modified the ABC zoning for less than 865 French cities, which therefore fall into one of these three categories!
You will find the complete list, in the form of an Excel file, of the cities concerned by this reclassification on the page dedicated to ABC zoning, the link to which is in the previous paragraph. In this way, you will be able to know if your municipality of residence or one of those in which you would like to live, is part of the list. Thus, you may be able to take advantage of an advantageous loan for the purchase of your future home or find a quality rental at a reasonable price in the coming years.