The Covid-19 health crisis has profoundly disrupted the seaside real estate market. According to a recent study by the National Real Estate Federation (Fnaim), the average price per square meter has increased by 7.7% in France … but 13% on the coast, reports Le Parisien.

If we go back two years, the evolution is even more impressive: prices jumped by 24% between May 2020 and April 2022. With the pandemic and the confinements, many French people have indeed chosen to leave the big cities and to get closer to the sea and mild temperatures.

“The French are looking for escape, space and nature at the end of this health crisis”, summarizes Jean-Marc Torrollion, president of Fnaim, with our colleagues. Thus, the seaside resorts of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, New Aquitaine, Brittany and Normandy have suddenly become very attractive.

The rise in local prices poses a major problem: the inhabitants of these cities are no longer necessarily able to buy their main residence. In addition, 47% of the housing stock in these cities by the sea is now second homes, not counting the accommodation now intended for vacation rentals.

Whether buying real estate or renting, locals are finding it increasingly difficult to find housing. One of the solutions put forward by elected officials and citizen groups to stem this real estate crisis? Make the purchase more complicated for foreign investors in the region.

“The condition to be able to buy a property would be to live in the territory for a certain time, to be defined, it can be a year or two years for example”, thus proposes the association Alda, located in the Basque Country. “We don’t want to become a huge seaside resort, consumed one or two months a year”.

Discover in our slideshow the situation of real estate prices region by region.