Politically, Housing Yields No Benefit: French Upset with Housing Crunch, 76% Now Intend to Make It a 2027 Voting Criterion

Housing is at the heart of French concerns, but also a key issue in the next presidential election. This is the lesson of a survey published this Thursday, November 5 by the Odoxa institute, in partnership with BFM Business, Le Figaro Magazine and the Orpi real estate network. Covering a panel of 1.

005 people interviewed between October 28 and 29, 2026, representative of the population aged 18 and over, this survey reveals that housing is the number one item of expenditure for the French... And by far. Housing and its associated costs account for around 1 third of the budget of those surveyed.

Thus, the renters surveyed (which represent 40% of households in France) spend on average 709 euros per month on their rent. A level up 17% in six years, and even 32% in 20 years according to this survey. Furthermore, eight out of 10 say they have had to make heavy sacrifices because of the cost of their housing.

For example, half of those surveyed have reduced their food budget and 30% have even given up on medical care. Housing is a “hidden priority”, observes Gaël Sliman, president and co-founder of Odoxa. “For decades, when you test people's priorities against the presidential election, housing often comes in at the bottom of the rankings because it competes with its parent company, purchasing power.”

However, purchasing power is indeed the number 1 priority of the French (for 67% of respondents), far ahead of reducing debt and the public deficit (40%) and the fight against insecurity (39%). By zooming into the "purchasing power" box, housing this time clearly comes out on top: 78% of respondents declare that it is their first item of expenditure, far ahead of food (55%) and taxes (44%). 83% believe that France is going through "a housing crisis" Thus, 83% of respondents believe that France is currently going through a "housing crisis".

The main “responsible” elements, according to them, are rent levels that are too high (60% of respondents were tenants), but also purchase prices that are too high and difficulty accessing property credit. “We measured in the survey what young people tell us about the difficulties in finding housing,” observes Gaël Sliman. “Some live with their parents at 25, even if they work.

When we zoom out, we see that this has significant societal consequences, on work, birth rates, etc..” “The French explain to us that they feel mistreated, that they are no longer able to house their children,” continues Guillaume Martinaud, president of Orpi, interviewed Thursday morning on BFM Business. (...

) “Between the weight of standards, the changes of Housing Ministers (8 in 5 years), the landlord-tenant relationships which are deteriorating... The tensions are extreme”. 3 political proposals deemed "positive" and "effective" by the French BFM Business, Le Figaro and Orpi wanted to know what the French's expectations were in terms of housing for the next five-year term.

Machine-translated from French