The impact of rent control in Paris in 2024

After six years of rent controls being implemented, and the first assessment of the scheme in 2024, the Paris Urbanism Agency, Apur, here gives a new assessment of its impact. First introduced on 1st July 2019 in Paris, in the context of the affordable housing crisis, the experimental scheme made it possible to regulate rents fixed by landlords when housing was initially let with a residential lease (including mobility leases), in the cities within the framework of the scheme. The extension of the scheme beyond 23rd November 2026, which marks the end of the trial period, will be particularly influenced by the assessment of its sustainability.

Apur, in liaison with the City of Paris, has continued to collaborate with the economic research team of  CESAER and LéP who carried out the first assessment. Based on data provided by SeLoger, the study was updated for Paris and enhanced with the degree of effectiveness of rent control on the rental offer, and extended to five other similarly regulated major cities : Lille, Lyon, Villeurbanne, Bordeaux and Montpellier.
 
This reveals that between July 2019 and June 2024, the moderating effect on rents rising in Paris attributable to the monitoring scheme was -5.2 % compared with the increase that would have occurred without the framework. The effect was accentuated over time (-2.5 % between mid-2019 and mid-2020, 5.9 % between mid-2022 and mid-2023 and -8.2 % between mid-2023 and mid-2024) benefiting smaller housing units rather than larger ones.
The analysis expanded to the other 5 regulated cities also demonstrates the effectiveness of the scheme beyond the Parisian example.