Alan C. Posted July 31, 2014 Posted July 31, 2014 Housing Market in France in ‘Meltdown’ After Hollande Rent Caps French President Francois Hollande’s government may have made a housing slump worse, pushing the construction market to its lowest in more than 15 years.Housing starts fell 19 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, and permits -- a gauge of future construction -- dropped 13 percent, the French Housing Ministry said yesterday.The rout stems from a law this year that seeks to make housing more affordable by capping rents in expensive neighborhoods. To protect home buyers, the law also boosted the number of documents that must be provided by sellers, leading to a decline in home sales and longer transaction times. While the government is now adjusting the rules, the damage is done, threatening France’s anemic recovery that’s already lagging behind those of the U.K. and Germany.. . .Sales of new-build homes fell 5 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and are down by about a third compared with their level in 2007... You can't legislate away a price you don't like. People respond to incentives.
PGP Posted July 31, 2014 Posted July 31, 2014 Interesting approach from Hollande. Contrasts with the "upward-only rent reviews" in my country (Ireland) for commercial property. ie rent can only go up BY LAW. This has resulted in empty commercial premises when spending post-'08 declined for disposable income in particular. Governments, who'd have 'em?
jacbot Posted August 1, 2014 Posted August 1, 2014 French President Francois Hollande’s is an outright communist and leader of the socialist party. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Hollande In the US political spectrum this means outright communist.
cab21 Posted August 4, 2014 Posted August 4, 2014 In the US political spectrum this means outright communist. i thought a communist would get rid of the concept of rent?
jacbot Posted August 4, 2014 Posted August 4, 2014 i thought a communist would get rid of the concept of rent? LOL, your a funny guy. France’s anemic recovery that’s already lagging behind those of the U.K. and Germany. What? U.K. and Germany are recovering? when did this happen , lol!
Alan C. Posted August 19, 2014 Author Posted August 19, 2014 France’s Relentlessly Deteriorating Unemployment Fiasco The French economy has been aptly led by the most despised tax-and-retreat President of the Fifth Republic, François Hollande, whose approval ratings didn’t stop plunging until they broke through the 20% mark, and by his equally adept government. They left the private sector wheezing for air. And a huge government sector, whose expenditures account for over half of GDP, has been running very recalcitrant deficits to the point where the prior solutions, such as creating jobs, any jobs, even fake jobs, with the stroke of a pen funded by borrowed money that future taxpayers would have to deal with, have gotten mired down.And so the French unemployment fiasco continues unabated. In June, the number of people registered with the unemployment office, Pôle Emploi, as jobless and who made “positive efforts” to obtain employment (Category A) rose 0.3% from May and 3.8% from last year to a new record of 3.662 million. If the people are included who only have part-time jobs but want full-time jobs (Categories B and C), the total jumped 0.4% from May and 5% from a year to a new record of 5.343 million.And if those job seekers who for whatever acceptable reason are deemed to not have made “positive efforts” recently (Categories D and E) are included, the broadest measure of the French jobs fiasco jumps to 5.719 million, up 24,000 or 0.4% from May and up 5.7% from a year earlier.. . .The OECD pegs the French labor force at 28.6 million. So we divide those registered as unemployed who don’t even have a part-time job (Categories A, D, and E), a total 4.075 million people, by the labor force of 28.6 million people. It produces an unemployment rate of 14.2%. And using the broadest measure of unemployment, which includes the involuntary part-timers, the unemployment rate skyrockets to 19.9%. According to Wikipedia, France has a population of 66.6M. That works out to about 43% of the population working.
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