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And tomorrow ?
Mobilizing land ownership, be it publicly or privately-owned, is still a serious problem.
A new challenge for the future presidential candidates, in order to attempt to simplify the property market, will no doubt be to find a legal system to reduce capital gains tax (CGT) and give landowners an incentive to sell rather than hoard their plots of land.
The simplification of building standards is still a nagging problem, as the said standards have accumulated in recent years, which does not help fluidify the market.
Lower and steadier property taxes would help sustain confidence in the property market.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that in the short term the time is right to sell and to buy. The market is still fluid and favours both buyers and sellers.
The barometer of property professionals
According to an analysis carried out with the CSA polling organization, Crédit Foncier de France notes that most property professionals are optimistic with regard to trends in the property market in the next twelve months, while nonetheless qualifying their opinions, in view of the economic climate and the stagnation of households' purchasing power.
Historically, the property market steadies or even shows a downturn in the months preceding a presidential election: no one knows what the situation will be in the second quarter of 2017.
Three months after the vote in favour of Brexit, how will this affect the French property market?
Before Brexit, British buyers were the main foreign investors in French property, more particularly in the second homes sector.
Since 23 June last (when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union), the impact of Brexit on the French property market has not yet been assessed in regions with significant numbers of British home-owners, like the south-west and the north-west.
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After falling between 2005 and 2011, the proportion of Britons grew until 2014 then fell off again in 2015. In 2016, their proportion will remain unchanged.
So it is still too soon to measure the impact of Brexit on the French property market.