France’s residential sector is continuing to grow as large numbers of French investors seek exposure to domestic housing portfolios in an acknowledgment of their defensive nature and ability to deliver stable returns.
Housing has not been a popular real estate sector in France for many years, with investors viewing it as over-regulated and not profitable enough. Now, however, perceptions have changed markedly, due to the persistently low interest rate environment and the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.
“We have seen institutional investors in France gradually come back to the residential segment over the last five years because of the fall in interest rates and the spread between yields having considerably narrowed between offices and housing,” said Vincent Mahé, CEO of CDC Habitat.
“Just before the COVID crisis, some housing portfolios were more profitable than core offices,” Mahé added. “Investors had started coming back and the COVID crisis
