The Paris City Council has voted to sharply increase taxes on vacant homes in an effort to ease the capital’s housing shortage.
The new surcharge, approved by councillors on Saturday July 18th, will replace the existing local tax on vacant properties and will apply to homes that have been empty for at least one year in areas where housing demand exceeds supply.
It will come into effect on January 1st, 2027.
Under French law, the standard tax rate is currently set at 17 percent of a property’s rental value in the first year of vacancy, rising to 34 percent from the second year.
However, municipalities are now allowed to increase those rates to 30 percent and 60 percent respectively – a power Paris has now chosen to use.
According to Paris City Hall, the higher rates could almost double the amount owed by owners of empty properties. The city gives the example of a vacant 30-square-metre apartment in the 17th arrondissement, where the annual tax would rise from around €790 to €1,400 in 2027, before increasing to €2,800 from 2028 if the property remains empty.
Deputy Mayor for Housing Jacques Baudrier described the vote as a “major victory after 10 years of struggle” in a post on X.
Baudrier, who has been deputy mayor in charge of housing under Anne Hidalgo since 2023 and then under mayor Emmanuel Grégoire since 2026, recently said: “People want to live in Paris but can no longer afford to do so.
“The property market has become a market for luxury and status symbols – much like a Rolex or a Tesla.
Paris officials hope the measure will encourage the owners of around 20,000 long-empty homes to put them back on the rental market.
According to France’s national statistics agency INSEE, nearly 140,000 homes in Paris are officially classified as vacant, representing around 10 percent of the city’s housing stock. However, not all of these properties are considered permanently empty, and only a proportion are expected to fall within the scope of the higher tax.
The city says it also offers support programmes to help owners renovate and rent out vacant properties.
Housing campaigners welcomed the move but said it should be part of a broader strategy to address the capital’s housing shortage.
Eddie Jacquemart, president of the national housing confederation (Confédération nationale du logement), called the decision “a real victory” and said other French cities facing housing shortages should consider adopting similar measures.
He argued that some owners deliberately leave properties empty while waiting for prices to rise before selling, while others avoid long-term rentals in favour of illegally operating short-term holiday rentals.
“Some homes are only vacant on paper,” Jacquemart told French media France Info. “They are clandestine Airbnbs. Owners prefer to rent them informally for short stays rather than through official long-term leases.”
He added that increasing taxes on empty homes was “a first step”, but said Paris would also need to build more housing, particularly social housing, to meet growing demand.
READ ALSO: France to impose new high rate of tax on vacant homes
Paris city hall has recently stepped up enforcement of illegal Airbnb rentals, handing out fines of up to €200,000 to owners caught with unregistered rentals.
In central Paris, up to one third of properties are in use as second homes – the city authorities say that they favour hiking tax on these too, and have called on the government to reform property tax rules in next year’s budget in order to allow this.
READ ALSO: Paris deputy mayor says second-homes are ‘the enemy’ and calls for new property tax laws
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