Since January 1, 2022, the city of Honfleur has changed the regulations on the seasonal rental market. The municipality wishes to react to changes in the real estate market, changes initiated by the dynamics encountered by seasonal rentals in this sector. Indeed, the multiplication of the rental offer and the evolution of the prices disturb the real estate management of the city.
The seasonal rental market in Honfleur:
Honfleur is undoubtedly a privileged destination city for many tourists. This town in Calvados, with a population of 7500 in 2015, had no less than 1900 offers of furnished tourist accommodation. Among the +800 active ads online, 94% concern the rental of entire accommodation for only 6% private or shared rooms. Remarkable figures when they are juxtaposed, since there is thus one accommodation for seasonal rental for four inhabitants in the year.
Why has the short-term rental offer developed so much in Honfleur? The answer is also in the numbers. Honfleur has an average price per night of €108 in high season, an average occupancy rate of 85% and an average income of more than €2300 for owners in August. These figures bear witness to the high profitability of seasonal rentals in Honfleur. This is reflected very significantly on the local market, which is experiencing an average increase of 2% in its rental supply per quarter.
“As in many cities in the sector, such as Deauville, Etretat or Granville, there is a very strong dynamic in the seasonal rental market with high profitability of rental investments. The rental offer is diversifying and tourists are responding, the lights are green in our sector" explains Stéphane, director of the YourHostHelper concierge service in Honfleur.
What are the problems encountered by the municipality?
Tourism is the economic backbone of many cities. Visitors for a day, a week or a month actively participate in the dynamism of the local economy and thus in the development of cities throughout the year. However, such dynamics in the seasonal rental market have a significant impact on the real estate market at the local level.
Indeed, the high profitability noted by the owners of property for seasonal rental in Honfleur is driving up property prices. As local seasonal rentals are a “safe bet”, investors are not reluctant to pay the price to benefit from an advantageous long-term rental investment. The link between seasonal rental prices in Honfleur and traditional real estate is therefore very concrete in this sector.
This general increase in real estate prices is hampering access to property for Honfleres, who are sometimes younger or simply do not have the same financial facilities as investors in rental real estate. The town hall therefore wishes to draw coverage from the side of its current and future year-round residents by controlling property prices as much as possible, even if it means impacting the seasonal rental market by limiting the number of properties for seasonal rental by the means that are at his disposal.
How Honfleur regulates its real estate market?
The strategy is simple: limit the possibility of renting your accommodation for more than 4 months in the year to slow down the growth of the seasonal rental market in Honfleur. Concretely, Honfleur requires a prior declaration and registration with the town hall. His deeds of ownership, the surface area of the goods and the year of purchase have been checked so that the town hall can issue a registration number.
This approach will then allow owners and investors to resort to short-term rentals. Aware that seasonal rentals directly benefit the economy and local life, the town hall does not wish to eliminate seasonal rentals, far from it. Honfleur is positioned in a process of regulation and control of the market so that the real estate sector in Honfleur does well.
Owner of a seasonal rental in Honfleur? We invite you to consult the sheet of our Airbnb concierge service in Honfleur !
