Grenoble attracts buyers who wish to leave Lyon . (Illustration) – Thomas Samson
According to the real estate purchasing power balance sheet of 2020 published this Monday by Meilleurtaux.com, the price increase in medium-sized cities is higher than in large cities.
Le Mans, Toulon or Angers are the cities most affected by this phenomenon, explains to 20 Minutes Maël Bernier, spokesperson for MeilleurTaux.
According to her, buyers are mainly looking for medium-sized cities, close to large cities or accessible very quickly by train.
Real estate was marked, like all other sectors, by the health crisis linked to 
Covid – 16 . And with this checkered year, some unusual developments have occurred. Meilleurtaux.com, which publishes this Monday its assessment of the real estate purchasing power of 648, thus notes a rise in prices in medium-sized cities greater than those in large cities.
19 Minutes questioned Maël Bernier, group spokesperson, for more information.
Maël Bernier, Meilleurtaux.com spokesperson – Maël Bernier
You have titled your report for the year 2020 “Victims of their success, medium-sized towns are losing m²”. What does that mean ?
Every year, we calculate the real estate purchasing power according to the cities. We take a couple who earns 3. euros monthly and who can reimburse 1. 06 euros of credit every month. We then take an interest rate observed over the year and we obtain a borrowing capacity. It is then enough to compare the surface that this couple can buy in different cities of France from one year to the next. Thanks to this calculation, we found that prices per square meter in medium-sized cities are increasing, and therefore that the area accessible to buyers is shrinking.
In 2020, some cities have moved a lot. Le Mans (- 14 m²), Toulon (- 06 m²) and Angers (- 16 m²) saw the biggest drops in real estate purchasing power in our barometer. According to SeLoger’s figures, Mulhouse even saw its prices per square meter explode by 14, 5%. These cities are symptomatic because they are not expensive to begin with, so their increase is impressive. But more expensive cities like Nantes or Montpellier (- 8m²) have significantly evolved. Conversely, large cities such as Paris (+1%) or Bordeaux (- 2%) have rather stagnated.
What explains these increases in medium-sized cities ?
The request, and only the request. It increased under the effect of the health crisis and teleworking. These figures are calculated on the year but before 
confinement , nothing was moving at Le Mans, for example. And from the deconfinement, the rise in demand was meteoric. Even Angers, more dynamic for real estate, was not in a comparable situation. The confinement made many employees and employers realize that teleworking is possible. For many residents of large cities, there has been the effect of “I thought I would do it for a long time, now I’m going”. Big companies are closing their headquarters in big cities and asking their executives to come only one day a week. In this case, what is the interest of continuing to live in 20 m² in Paris, for example, when you can have a house in the city center with 4 or 6 large bedrooms and a garden in a larger city small? Especially if they have the sea nearby, like Le Havre, or a view of the mountains, like Valence.
Cities that were somewhat overlooked by buyers are finding their way back. For executives of large companies who only go to Paris one day a week, this is the opportunity to find a better quality of life with more space. And for employees whose income is more modest, if teleworking is possible, it is the possibility of buying, which they probably could not have done in a big city.
Balance of real estate purchasing power in various cities established by Meilleurtaux.com (SeLoger LPI Barometer figures) – Meilleurtaux.com
Does it mean that the urban exodus, which was predicted at the end of the first confinement, did not actually take place towards the countryside?
It’s possible. The search for the countryside translates more towards second homes, and it is possible to find them within an hour of major cities. Buyers are mainly looking for medium-sized cities, close to large cities or accessible very quickly by train. There is also a search for advantages such as the sea, the mountains or the sun. Saint Etienne, the cheapest city in France, will develop, like Reims, Amiens or Grenoble. Mid-sized cities will benefit from this. And this is a trend that we see everywhere in the country.