Data on new properties are “catastrophic”Pascal Boulanger, president of the Federation of Real Estate Developers (FPI), warned on Thursday, and some developers are starting to cut jobs, AFP reports.
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He changes jobs
“We are losing employees and we are losing know-how”Pascal Boulanger was concerned at the press conference.
“I heard about the beginnings of PSEs (Employment Protection Plans, Editor’s Note)”he warned adding that “no one replaces departures anymore” retired.
Here is “the loss of know-how, and this is becoming very worrying, I see a lot of operations managers, operations fitters changing jobs,” added Pascal Boulanger.
He did not name the affected developers or give figures on job losses, but recalled that according to estimates by employers’ organizations, 300,000 jobs are at risk by 2025 – half in the construction industry, half in related professions (developers, architects, insurers, etc.).
Reservations for new homes have halved
2023 should mean a decline “About 50%” reservations and sales of new homes, the dreaded Pascal Boulanger.
New home sales fell 48.6% in the third quarter and individual bookings fell 46.6%, according to the FPI Observatory. “This is the worst quarter since the observatory was created”lamented FPI General Delegate Didier Bellier-Ganière.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Ecological Transformation, sales fell by 34.9% and individual bookings by 39.7%.
If the current trend continues, bookings should be around 90,000 in 2023, up from 160,000 per year. “normal”warned Didier Bellier-Ganière.
State-supported buyout programs through the Caisse des Dépôts and Action Logement are not enough to offset the drop in private bookings and are putting developers in trouble, confirmed Pascal Boulanger, because “We do these block sales at zero margin, or even, for most of them, at negative margin.”
The average price of a new apartment offered for sale remains around €5,000 per square meter, but this figure is less significant than before because developers are now accepting negotiations to sell their shares, explained Pascal Boulanger.