The zero-interest loan (PTZ) will soon be accessible to more people. Its access conditions will be relaxed to allow six million additional people to benefit from it, Bruno Le Maire announced this Saturday, in an interview with the regional daily Sud Ouest, in the context of the real estate crisis. “Faced with the increase in interest rates, we will expand access to zero-rate loans (PTZ) by simplifying the scale and increasing the ceiling,” indicated the Minister of the Economy.

“This will be done in the coming weeks so that six million additional French people benefit,” he added. The PTZ allows households, mainly first-time buyers, to limit the cost of financing their main residence, in new buildings and if they carry out work, in particular improving energy performance, in old buildings. As its name suggests, the zero interest loan does not have any interest to repay. It complements another type of credit and can only represent a fraction of the total amount borrowed.

In an interview given at the end of September to Le Parisien, the tenant of Bercy mentioned a revision of the scale to allow more “young households” to access it. His colleague Patrice Vergriete, Minister for Housing, also affirmed this Saturday, in an interview with Le Monde, that the executive intended to “boost this loan by reviewing the ceilings and scales”. “We are targeting more than 40,000 zero-interest loans in 2024, as many as in 2023, on a smaller territory,” said the former mayor of Dunkirk (North), who remained president of his urban community. He in fact recalled that “the zero-interest loan for accession, rather than encouraging urban sprawl, will be reformed to concentrate on tense areas, whose perimeter is enlarged”.

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A refocusing revealed by Elisabeth Borne last June, when presenting her plan against the housing crisis. While announcing the extension of the PTZ until 2027 – although it was initially due to end at the end of 2023 – the Prime Minister specified that it would henceforth be dedicated to the acquisition of new housing in tense areas (only for collective housing and no longer for pavilions), or for the acquisition of old housing in a relaxed area subject to the completion of renovation work. “Our first objective is to provide access to housing for all French people. This is why we are going to take measures to guarantee access to real estate loans, in particular by relaxing certain rules and extending and transforming the zero-interest loan,” the head of government also indicated.

The income ceilings not to be exceeded to be eligible for this state-assisted loan therefore depend on the municipality of the property purchased. These are classified with letters, from A to C, reflecting the more or less strong imbalance between supply and demand. “In addition, 154 new municipalities will integrate tense areas”, therefore classified A, “and will therefore be eligible for intermediate housing and the new PTZ from 2024”, declared Bruno Le Maire, specifying that this represented 4.5 million inhabitants .

The real estate market is being hit hard by the rise in interest rates initiated a year and a half ago by central banks and subsequently passed on by retail banks in their credit policy. The production of new housing loans excluding renegotiation fell in August in France below the 10 billion euros mark, to 9.9 billion euros, a first in more than 7 years, announced Thursday the Bank of France.