Home Ownership in France Now Splits Sharply by Income Within Each Generation

A French government study of 36 years of housing surveys finds the poorest tenth's ownership rate at 40 to 50 fell from 43 percent to 16 percent.

France's home ownership rate still climbs steeply with age, from 5% of households headed by someone aged 15 to 24, to 54% at 35 to 44, and 73% at 65 to 74. What has changed is what happens inside a single age band. Among households born in the 1970s, 59% of those in the highest income decile owned their home between the ages of 30 and 40, against 11% of those in the lowest. For the generations born in the 1980s the two ends moved further apart still, to 64% against 12%. The figures come from a study published on 25 September 2026 by the statistical service of France's ecological transition ministry, built on the national housing surveys run between 1984 and 2013 and the 2020 survey, covering metropolitan France.

The lowest income decile lost the most ground

Compared at the same age, the retreat is steepest at the bottom. Among households in the lowest income decile aged 40 to 50, the ownership rate fell from 43% for those born in the 1940s to 24% for those born in the 1960s, and to 16% for those born in the 1970s. That is the single number that carries the study.

The cohort effect is visible higher up the distribution too, but it is far milder. Between the ages of 45 and 54, 64% of the 1950s generations owned their home, against 59% of the 1960s generations. Earlier in adult life the same direction shows: between 25 and 34, 23% of households born between 1960 and 1979 were owners, against 29% of those born between 1950 and 1959. A five or six point slip at the middle of the distribution sits alongside a 27 point collapse at the bottom.

Prices pulled away from rents over six decades

The study puts one long-run comparison behind the divergence. Between 1960 and 2020, the price of existing homes in France was multiplied by 67, while rents were multiplied by 19. For a household that can raise a deposit, that arithmetic transfers wealth; for one that cannot, it raises the entry price every year without ever raising the rent by as much. The deposit, not the monthly payment, is what a low income struggles to assemble.

Social housing narrowed as an entry route

The second channel the study identifies is the social rental sector, which used to absorb young households before they bought. Among people born in the 1960s, 27% were social housing tenants before the age of 25. That share falls to 15% for those born in the 1980s and to 11% for those born in the 1990s. The route that once bridged the years between leaving home and buying has narrowed for each successive cohort.

What the French market looks like today

Glopra's own France row, dated 22 September 2026, puts the national asking price at $3,642 per square metre and the national asking rent at $16.23 per square metre per month, both taken from the same listings publisher for the same month, which gives a gross rental yield of about 5.3%. The twelve-month asking-price trend is +0.1% in euro terms and -2.6% once the currency move is taken out; over five years prices are up 2% and over ten years 25.4%. Our bubble score of 39 puts France in the moderate band, transaction costs run to 9.1% of the purchase price, the standardised non-resident effective tax on rental income is 27.5% within a 26.04% to 37.86% range, and ownership is freehold with no restrictions on foreign buyers.

These two sets of numbers answer different questions and do not contradict each other. The ministry study measures who owns, tracked by birth cohort and income decile over 36 years of surveys; our +0.1% is a twelve-month movement in national asking prices. A flat price year does not loosen an entry barrier that took six decades to build. Two limits are worth stating plainly: the study covers metropolitan France only, and it sorts households by decile of living standard, not by quartile.

Sources: Service des donnees et des etudes statistiques (SDES), Au fil des generations, les menages plus modestes sont de moins en moins proprietaires, collection Reperes, published 25 September 2026 https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/au-fil-des-generations-les-menages-plus-modestes-sont-de-moins-en-moins-proprietaires; SDES, full publication PDF, September 2026 https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/media/9754/download?inline

Market data: France