France’s government set out its draft budget for 2027 on Thursday 1 October, and the housing measures inside it will matter well beyond Paris. Parliament now has the finance bill, the projet de loi de finances, on its desk, and public debate starts on 13 October. None of it is law, the government itself calls the package reversible, and the figures can still move in either chamber, so read what follows as a map of the proposals rather than a set of rules.
For anyone advising a client on French property, three changes stand out. A larger zero-rate loan would help buyers who are starting a family, a cheaper gift-tax regime would help the parents who fund them, and a tighter deduction would take money out of furnished letting. Each one changes what a buyer pays or how easily a deposit comes together, whether the client is buying property in France for the first time or adding a second home.
What France’s 2027 Budget Changes for Buyers
Broadly speaking, the housing mission survives intact. Its “Cohésion des territoires” envelope is set at 22.51 billion euros, close to the 2026 figure, inside a text that has to find 43 billion euros of savings to bring the public deficit down to 5 per cent of GDP. Read the full projet de loi de finances for 2027, thousands of pages of it, or take the plain-language summary on vie-publique.fr.
That stability is not generosity. It is a choice to protect the housing line while other ministries absorb the squeeze, which leaves the housing market facing neither a stimulus nor a sharp cut. One hard change stands out on benefits: the housing component of the personalised housing allowance, the APL, is frozen rather than indexed to inflation. Everything else is a shift inside the envelope, from who can borrow cheaply to which renovations are subsidised.
The Zero-Rate Loan and the New Family PTZ
Most likely to change a buyer’s budget is the zero-rate loan, the prêt à taux zéro that lets a household borrow part of a purchase with no interest. Under the draft it would run three years longer, to 2030, and the annual spending ceiling that has capped it at 2.1 billion euros since 2016 would go. On top of that the government proposes a second loan, a parental zero-rate loan, aimed at households expecting a child or with a child under three.
Conditions matter more than the headline. That family loan is income-tested, usable once per household, and open even to buyers who have already taken a standard zero-rate loan, which the current rules do not allow. Trade reporting puts the maximum at 180,000 euros, combinable with the standard loan over 15 to 25 years, though the government has not confirmed that figure. idealista’s French news desk reported the same change and noted that the annual cap would go.
- Extended to 2030, rather than expiring in 2027
- No more annual ceiling of 2.1 billion euros on the scheme
- A new parental loan open to households expecting a child or with one under three
- Buyers who already used a zero-rate loan able to qualify again
- Income ceilings still applied, and the loan available once per household
Gift Tax Relief and the Deadline This Year
A second change concerns how families move money to the next generation, which in France is often how a deposit is assembled. Under a plan the Prime Minister announced on 12 September and the budget would enact, the tax-free cash gift allowance between a parent and a child would rise from 31,865 euros to 50,000 euros, and taxable gifts above that would face a flat 6 per cent rate up to 100,000 euros per donor and per beneficiary. On a taxable 100,000 euros the bill would fall from roughly 18,200 euros to 6,000.
There is a deadline that agents should raise now. A temporary exemption lets a family pass up to 100,000 euros per donor, and up to 300,000 euros per beneficiary, free of gift tax when the money buys a new home or pays for energy renovation, and it ends on 31 December 2026. That window is not part of the new relief and will not be extended by it, so a client who has been planning a gift to fund a purchase has weeks, not months, to act. France’s own summary describes the easing as temporary.
Furnished Lets, APL and Renovation Support
Measures that bite on owners are quieter but real. Owners of furnished lets face a rewrite of the tax regime for non-professional furnished letting, the LMNP, with the amortisation deduction capped at 2.5 per cent of the property’s value and 7,000 euros a year per tax household, and at 1.5 per cent and 5,000 euros for a furnished tourist let. Its aim is to bring furnished and unfurnished letting closer together, and it would cut the advantage that has pulled investors into furnished and short-term rental.
On the tenant side, the APL freeze is the headline. From 1 October 2027 the housing benefit would no longer be revalued with inflation, a saving the government puts at about 72 million euros. Students from better-off families would have to choose between the APL paid for them and the tax break their parents get for keeping them in the household, and non-EU nationals would need a year of residence in France before claiming housing aid. Renovation subsidies would be concentrated on whole-property and block-level works, social housing keeps its funding, and its property tax exemption is extended to 2030.
| Measure | What it would do | Who feels it |
|---|---|---|
| Zero-rate loan | Extended to 2030, annual cap removed | First-time buyers |
| Parental loan | A second zero-rate loan for families with a young child | Buyers moving up |
| Gift tax | Allowance to 50,000 euros, flat 6 per cent above it | Families funding a purchase |
| Furnished lets | Amortisation capped at 2.5 per cent and 7,000 euros | Furnished rental owners |
| APL | Frozen from 1 October 2027 | Tenants on benefit |
What Agents Should Tell Their Clients Now
Honestly, this is a draft, and French budgets are amended heavily before they pass. Two things are still worth doing this month. Tell any client planning a gift towards a purchase about the 31 December 2026 deadline, because that one is existing law and will not wait for the debate. And for a family weighing a move to a bigger home, note that the parental loan, if it survives, would sit alongside the standard zero-rate loan rather than replace it.
- Explain that none of the 2027 measures applies yet and that the text can change in Parliament
- Flag the 31 December 2026 gift exemption deadline for a new-build or renovation purchase
- Check a client’s income against the zero-rate loan ceilings before promising a figure
- Warn furnished-let investors that the amortisation cap would reduce the deduction from 2028
- Revisit any advice built on the assumption that housing benefit would keep rising
Questions Agents Ask About France’s Budget
Is the 2027 budget law yet?
No. Ministers presented the projet de loi de finances on 1 October 2026 and it is now before the National Assembly. Deputies begin examining it in public session from 13 October, and the measures can still be amended or dropped before any final vote.
Can a buyer already use the new parental loan?
Not yet. The parental zero-rate loan is a proposal inside the draft budget. Until the text is passed, the current zero-rate loan rules apply, with their existing income ceilings and their limit of one use per household.
Does the budget change the gift tax deadline?
It does not extend it. A temporary exemption of up to 100,000 euros per donor, and up to 300,000 euros per beneficiary, for a gift used to buy a new home or renovate a main residence ends on 31 December 2026. That new relief is separate and would apply from 2027.
What happens to furnished rental deductions?
Under the draft, the amortisation deduction for non-professional furnished letting would be capped at 2.5 per cent and 7,000 euros a year per household, and at 1.5 per cent and 5,000 euros for a furnished tourist let. Investors who bought on the old arithmetic would feel the change.
Is there anything in the budget for foreign buyers?
Indirectly. The benefit changes would require non-EU nationals to have lived in France for a year before claiming housing aid, which affects residents rather than buyers. For a European property buyer outside the benefit system, the zero-rate loan and the gift-tax measures are the ones that touch a purchase.
