Find out about the characteristics of vacant housing and the profiles of owners who prefer to leave accommodation vacant rather than exploit its rental value thus forming an urban and social issue in a city where the real estate market is stretched to such extreme limits.
Characteristics of housing and owner profiles resulting from exploitation of the vacant housing file LOVAC
Analysis of the LOVAC file reveals that 18,600 housing units were vacant on a long-term basis in Paris in 2020. This corresponds to a relatively limited number of dwellings (1.3% of the Parisian housing stock), compared with the frictional vacancy linked to households moving (approximately 100,000 units), the number of secondary residences (128,000 units in 2018) and even furnished rentals for tourists (several tens of thousands of housing units concerned).
The maps produced using the LOVAC file show that the situation of long-term vacancy is spread throughout the whole of Paris, with a greater representation in central areas and the business area Quartier Central des Affaires. It also reveals that this empty accommodation rarely concerns entire buildings and often (but not exclusively) corresponds to small scale housing units, with often, little comfort and in old buildings.
Similarly to the housing stock as a whole, the majority of owners of permanently vacant housing are private individuals. However, private legal entities are overrepresented among owners of permanently vacant housing. The analysis of the LOVAC file also brings to light the proportion of multiple ownership, which accounts for 35% of permanently vacant housing.
