Finding a long-term rental apartment in Paris has rarely been easy. In 2026, however, the challenge has reached another level.
Demand is high, good apartments disappear almost immediately, and prospective tenants with perfectly solid financial profiles can find themselves competing with dozens — sometimes hundreds — of other applicants.
This is not the result of one single change. Rather, several developments over the past few years have gradually pushed more people towards renting while, at the same time, reducing the number of properties landlords are willing — or legally able — to offer.
Recent measures suggest that policymakers have begun to acknowledge the imbalance. New standard lease agreements came into effect on October 1, 2026, further changes to the French energy-performance rating system will follow in January 2027, and Paris is introducing stronger taxation intended to encourage owners of vacant properties to put them back into use.
So how did Paris get here?
2022–2024: Higher Interest Rates Push Would-Be Buyers Towards Renting
The first major shift came from the mortgage market.
After years of exceptionally inexpensive financing, interest rates rose sharply from 2022 onwards. The average rate for new French housing loans, excluding renegotiations, climbed from around 1.3% in mid-2022 to more than 4% at the beginning of 2024.
For buyers dependent on financing, the effect on purchasing power was considerable. Some postponed their purchase; others simply no longer qualified for the amount they needed.
Many remained tenants for longer.
Rates have since moderated — hovering around 3.2–3.3% during much of 2026 — and the sales market has recovered accordingly. But the disruption created during those two years added substantial pressure to an already competitive rental market.
2023–2026: At the Same Time, Rental Supply Was Shrinking
While demand increased, landlords faced a growing number of constraints.
Perhaps the most visible has been France's tightening energy-performance legislation.
Since January 2025, properties classified G under the French Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique (DPE) can no longer be newly rented or have an existing lease renewed or tacitly extended. F-rated properties are currently due to follow in 2028 and E-rated properties in 2034.
The objective — improving France's housing stock and reducing energy consumption — is understandable. The difficulty in Paris is that its historic housing stock does not always lend itself easily to modern energy-efficiency standards.
Insulating an apartment internally can mean sacrificing precious floor area, while changes to windows, façades, roofs or ventilation systems can depend upon the condominium and, in historic areas, architectural restrictions.
As a result, some apartments have simply left the rental market.
We have written more extensively about this issue in our guide to French Energy Ratings (DPE) in 2026
Being a Landlord Has Also Become Less Attractive
Energy performance is only one part of the equation.
Paris has applied rent controls since 2019. While these protect tenants from excessive rent increases, they also limit the potential return available to owners in a city where acquisition prices, property taxes, condominium charges and renovation costs remain high.
There is also the question of risk.
French residential leases provide substantial protection to tenants. For responsible tenants — by far the majority — this provides important stability. From an owner's perspective, however, the prospect of prolonged proceedings following serious rent arrears or difficulty recovering a property can weigh heavily in the decision whether to rent at all.
This is particularly relevant to owners who do not depend upon the rental income.
Taxation has also become less favourable in some areas. Since February 2025, for example, depreciation previously deducted by many non-professional furnished landlords under the real tax regime (LMNP au réel) must generally be reintegrated when calculating the taxable capital gain upon resale.
None of these measures alone explains today's shortage. Taken together, however, they have changed the calculation for private landlords.
And What About Paris's Second Homes?
This is inevitably part of the discussion — but it deserves some perspective.
According to INSEE, approximately 9.9% of Paris housing was classified as a secondary residence or occasional dwelling in 2023, while another 9.9% was classified as vacant.
It is tempting to see every second home as an apartment removed from the housing market. The reality is more nuanced.
Many international owners — including clients we have worked with over the years — bought their Paris property precisely because they wanted a home here, not an investment product. They use it regularly, spend locally, maintain and renovate their property, and contribute to the life and preservation of the city's residential neighborhoods.
A privately owned Paris home used for several months each year is therefore not necessarily the same thing as a permanently vacant apartment being held without use.
The distinction matters.
The challenge for policymakers is to increase the supply of housing without making legitimate home ownership unnecessarily unattractive.
2026–2027: Is the Direction Beginning to Change?
Interestingly, several recent measures suggest that policymakers are now looking at the supply side of the equation as well.
New Lease Agreements Since October 1, 2026: New statutory lease models apply to residential leases signed or renewed from October 1, 2026.
Among the changes, the standard contract now explicitly contains the termination clause applicable in the event of non-payment of rent, charges or the security deposit.
This should not be interpreted as an entirely new protection for landlords. The clause has in fact been compulsory for leases signed or renewed since July 29, 2023. The new standard contracts now formally reflect that legislation.
Where applicable, leases must also state that the property is subject to a principal-residence requirement, and landlords and tenants may add mobile telephone numbers to facilitate communication and, potentially, early intervention when difficulties arise.
These are modest changes rather than a transformation of landlord-tenant law. But they point towards greater clarity in a rental framework that has become increasingly complex.
January 2027: Another Important Change to the DPE
The more significant development for Paris owners may arrive on January 1, 2027.
France will once again modify the way electricity is treated in the DPE calculation. The conversion coefficient between final electricity consumption and primary energy will fall from 1.9 to 1.7.
For an all-electric property, this represents a reduction of approximately 10.5% in calculated primary energy consumption — without carrying out any work.
This follows an earlier reduction from 2.3 to 1.9 in January 2026.
The change is particularly relevant in Paris, where many apartments — especially smaller properties — use electric heating.
Importantly, properties will not need a new diagnostic inspection to benefit. Existing valid DPEs can be updated through an official certificate available free of charge via the ADEME DPE platform from January 2027.
A better letter on paper does not, of course, magically insulate an apartment or reduce its actual electricity consumption. But the reform corrects some of the disadvantage previously suffered by electrically heated properties in a country whose electricity production is overwhelmingly low-carbon.
For certain F- and G-rated properties, the consequences could be significant — potentially returning apartments to the legal rental market without unnecessary renovation work.
Paris Is Also Targeting Vacant Properties
The other side of the strategy is more coercive.
From January 2027, Paris intends to apply the maximum permitted rates under the new tax regime for qualifying vacant residential properties, with the stated objective of encouraging owners to rent or sell apartments that would otherwise remain unused.
The City estimates that the measure could help return approximately 20,000 vacant homes to the market.
We recently looked at this subject in detail in our article on Paris's new vacant-property tax for 2027.
Here again, however, the reasons a property remains vacant can be complicated. An apartment may be awaiting renovation, caught up in an inheritance, subject to a legal issue — or its owner may simply consider the risks and restrictions of becoming a landlord greater than the potential return.
Taxing vacancy may therefore encourage some properties back onto the market. Making long-term rental ownership more attractive and predictable may ultimately prove just as important.
A Market Looking for Balance
Paris faces a genuine housing problem. Protecting tenants, improving energy efficiency and ensuring that homes are actually used are legitimate public-policy objectives.
But housing policy also has to recognise a fairly basic economic reality: a healthy rental market needs landlords willing to supply properties.
When regulation, taxation, renovation obligations and perceived legal risk accumulate, some owners will choose not to rent. And when supply contracts while demand increases, finding an apartment inevitably becomes harder.
The changes arriving in late 2026 and 2027 do not solve that equation overnight. But the revised DPE methodology in particular is a welcome recognition that regulation needs to reflect the realities of France's housing stock and energy mix.
For Paris owners, buyers and investors, the lesson is increasingly clear: the distinction between a good property and a good investment is no longer determined by location and price alone.
Energy performance, condominium constraints, tax treatment, rental regulation and the owner's own plans for the property all need to be considered together.
At 56Paris, this broader perspective is part of how we advise international clients — whether they are buying a Paris home for themselves, considering its rental potential, or deciding what to do with a property they already own.