The zero-interest loan (PTZ) will be increased to 100,000 euros and extended in 2024 to more households and more cities, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced on Wednesday October 18 in an interview with RTL. The PTZ, which was to be abolished from January 1, “will be extended” for the whole year “because there is a collapse in housing credit and we want as many households as possible to have access to a real estate credit while this is becoming extraordinarily difficult with the increase in interest rates linked to inflation, said the minister, observing that “there were 20 billion euros in monthly credits, we fell to 10 billion”.
The maximum amount of the PTZ will thus increase “from 80,000 to 100,000 euros”, while the share that it may represent in relation to another loan taken out with the bank “will increase from 40% to 50%” for low-income households. , according to Bruno Le Maire. Furthermore, the latter specified that “the middle classes will be eligible”, while currently people earning between 2,500 and 4,000 euros are not entitled to it, i.e. “six million more eligible people”.
Finally the PTZ “will concern 210 more cities”, detailed the minister, recalling that this loan concerns “the areas where there are the most difficulties in finding housing”. He cited “Bordeaux, Auxerre, Besançon, Bidart, Le Mans, Cournon d’Auvergne…” among the new eligible cities. This will represent an effort for the State of 850 million euros. “This is proof that we wanted to tackle the problem head on,” he added.
Bruno Le Maire also asked banks to “mobilize” and grant households an interest-free loan of an amount equivalent to that of the State. According to him, Crédit Agricole has already responded favorably to this request. The minister also wants to “continue to work with the governor of the Bank of France to simplify the rules for granting credit.” Without explicitly citing the ceiling of one third of income which currently constitutes the maximum sums borrowable for housing, the minister specified “continue to work on relaxing the rules with the governor”.
