By
Samuel Sauneuf
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Le Pays Malouin: According to the latest property barometer, sales volumes are in free fall in the first half of the year. And it is Ille-et-Vilaine, with – 22%, that holds the record in Brittany. Is the sector experiencing one of its worst crises?
Alan Bitauld: We suffered from November to March. There was some damage to the business. Agencies are closed. I was scared too. When you see your cash flow melting like snow in the sun, it’s worrying. Decisions had to be made. We were twelve employees. Today there are seven of us. I closed my Châteauneuf agency to focus on Dol. But since April, in my opinion, things have gone better. We’re off again. Slowly, but we are leaving.
“Honestly, I don’t know where we’re going. The market remains fragile”
LPM: The sector, we remember, had already experienced a severe crisis in 2009.
AB: Yes, but at that point we had visibility over the next three or six months. Today – and I’ve been doing this job for 18 years – I honestly don’t know where we’re going. The market remains fragile.
LPM: After all, transactions are increasing a bit and prices tend to decrease.
AB: It’s probably different at the coast, but in my area yes. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen it. It took a long time, but today the sellers are ready to negotiate a little. We see offers of -5, -10% below the displayed price. The owners understood that we were in a difficult market and that in order to sell, you had to know how to lower your price a little, for fear of regretting it in three months.
“The euphoria after covid is over”
LPM: You also say that the market is heading towards regularization.
AB: Gone is the quiet little house that was sold in an instant to a Parisian. This post-covid euphoria is over. We returned to a more traditional market. 17 years ago I had 300 houses for sale in one agency and the phone rang 4-5 times a day. After Covid I went back to 60 properties for two agencies and the phone was ringing sometimes fifty times a day. Today I have about twenty calls on a stock of 120 items. The situation is resolved.
LPM: The Emerald Coast seems inaccessible to most households. Let’s take the example of a couple working in Saint-Malo who have a budget of 250,000 euros to acquire a small house with a garden. How far will they go to realize their dream?
AB: East of Dol-de-Bretagne, Baguer-Morvan, Baguer-Pican, Mont-Dol… We know it, we see it, the circle grows around Saint-Malo. We should have bought in Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets fifteen years ago. Today, the city is overpriced. Even in Miniac-Morvan or La Fresnais it gets complicated.
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