As of January 1, 2026, mainland France (excluding Mayotte) has 38.6 million homes. The housing stock continues to grow, but at a slower pace than in the early 2000s. INSEE estimates also show a slight decrease in the proportion of vacant homes since 2019 and a recent decline in the number of households still repaying a mortgage.
Park growth is slowing down
Between 1982 and 2026, the number of dwellings increased by an average of 1.1% per year. This increase moderated over time: after 1.2% per year between 2000 and 2009, then 1.1% between 2010 and 2015, it has settled at 0.8% per year since 2016. The data for 2024, 2025 and 2026 are provisional.
The increase is faster than that of the population. INSEE explains this in particular by the decrease in the average number of people per dwelling, linked to changes in lifestyles and the aging of the population: with the same number of inhabitants, more dwellings are needed.
Of the 38.6 million dwellings recorded outside Mayotte, 31.9 million are primary residences, representing 82.7% of the housing stock. Secondary residences and occasional dwellings account for 3.8 million units (9.7%), while 2.9 million dwellings are vacant (7.6%).
Vacancy rates have been declining since their peak in 2019.
The proportion of vacant dwellings has followed a contrasting trajectory. After decreasing until 2005, it rose from 6.2% that year to 8.1% in 2019. Since then, it has been declining: it is projected to reach 7.6% in 2026. INSEE estimates that the number of vacant dwellings has decreased by nearly 20,000 over this period.
Vacancy encompasses a variety of situations: a property may be awaiting rental or sale, unoccupied after a move or death, awaiting inheritance, or too dilapidated to be occupied. The share of second homes and occasional residences, however, has stabilized at 9.7% since 2017.
Homes, owners and tenants: contrasting trends
Houses make up 54.4% of housing in 2026. However, their share is decreasing in several categories: among main residences, it has fallen from 57% in 2013 to 55.5% in 2026. The decline is more marked for secondary and occasional residences, where the proportion of houses has fallen from 61.7% in 2006 to 52.3%.
For primary residences, 57.3% of households own their homes, a proportion that has remained almost stable since 2011. However, the share of homeowners still repaying a mortgage has been declining since 2020: it is projected to reach 19.8% in 2026, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points. Conversely, the share of homeowners with no outstanding mortgage payments has reached 37.6%.
Tenant households represent 40.4% of occupants, a proportion close to that observed over the past forty years. Housing rented from private landlords accounts for 23.2% of primary residences, compared to 17.3% for those owned by public landlords. Households living rent-free represent 2.3%.
Disparities between cities, rural areas and overseas territories
Housing distribution varies according to the size of urban areas. Second and occasional residences represent 16.2% of housing in municipalities outside urban areas, compared to 4.4% in the Paris urban area. Vacancy rates are also higher outside urban areas (7.9%) than in Paris (7.3%). Conversely, primary residences are proportionally more numerous in the Paris urban area: 88.3% of the housing stock, compared to 82.7% on average nationally.
In the French overseas departments and regions (excluding Mayotte), the housing stock is increasing faster than in metropolitan France, but the pace is also slowing. Between 2010 and 2026, its average growth was 1.5% per year, compared to 2.4% between 2000 and 2010. Vacant dwellings represent 10.8% of the housing stock there, compared to 7.5% in metropolitan France. Households there are also more often renters and less often homeowners.
Source: National publications (www.insee.fr)
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