Real Estate. Rentals: Is the Market Really Running Out of Steam?
Between a shortage of properties, soaring rents, and pressure on energy performance certificates (EPCs), the rental market is experiencing a historic crisis. The second quarter of 2025 confirms the urgency, according to the Stat'ici study published by Bien'ici.
The French rental market is experiencing unprecedented turbulence. According to the Stat'ici Q2 2025 edition of the Bien'ici platform, demand for rental housing has jumped 9.5% year-on-year, while supply has fallen 6%.
The result: extreme tension in major cities and rents that continue to rise.
Demand on fire, supply on ashesTenants are now facing a historically low inventory, down 14% over two years. Smaller properties, particularly studios and one-bedroom apartments, are the hardest hit, even as students and young professionals prepare to flock to the property for the start of the school year.
In such a context, prices rise automatically. Photo Adobe Stock
Since January, G-rated properties have been excluded from the rental market. And the next step, the ban on F-rated properties in 2028, is already looming over the sector.
This energy regulation, while part of a virtuous objective, nevertheless exacerbates the crisis: many owners prefer to sell rather than renovate, further reducing the available supply.
Today, 6% of properties for rent remain thermal sieves (DPE F), according to Bien'ici, with a marked concentration on small surfaces: 9% of studios for rent are still in this category.
Rents that do not declineIn such a context, prices are rising automatically. In five years, the average rent per square meter in France has increased by 15%.
In Paris, a studio apartment now costs €1,017, compared to €655 in Lyon and €600 in Bordeaux. Some cities are seeing a boom: this is the case, for example, in Saint-Priest, with a 31% increase.
Is the release of the DPE G an aggravating factor? Photo Adobe Stock
The podium for the highest rents remains dominated by Île-de-France, with Paris, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vincennes leading the way.
On the other hand, some towns still offer affordable rents, such as Saint-Chamond in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, but the gap is widening.
A structural crisis is taking holdThe current shortage is the result of an explosive combination: the end of DPE G, the end of the Pinel system, the new-build crisis, and still-restrictive purchasing conditions.
Although the transaction is slowly restarting, it is not yet releasing enough housing to ease the rental market.
A report submitted to the Ministry of Housing at the end of June 2025, cited in the Stat'ici study, calls for a massive revival of construction dedicated to rentals.
But the first effects are not expected until 2028. Suffice it to say that the coming months still promise to be very tense.
Le Bien Public
