Last month, the finance committee of the French parliament recommended easing the taxation on second homes in order to release more properties on to the market.

The committee pointed out that to obtain complete exemption from capital gains tax and social charges it was necessary to have owned the property for 30 years.

This exemption period is much longer than the national average ownership period of residential property at the time of resale, which is around 10 years for houses.

The basic rate of capital gains tax is 19%, plus 17.2% social charges, making a total tax charge of 36.2%.

Currently there is complete exemption from capital gains tax after 21 years of ownership, but social charges still apply for 30 years, albeit that in each case there is a progressive discount after 5 years of ownership.

The committee proposed scrapping the allowance for duration of ownership and replacing it with a price index, either consumer prices, construction costs or a house price index.

Although this potentially complex formula did not find favour with the government the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, agreed that the taxation of second home sales was detrimental to the market, stating: "Properties are not put up for sale and this makes the market more rigid,” as a result of which the government plans to “look at how to shorten and align exemption periods." He stressed that it was “not consistent” to have two time frames, and that “thirty years is too long”.

However, it is unlikely that there will be any immediate change, as he considered such a reform to be complex. It would not, therefore, figure in the proposed budget for 2024.

The committee also considered whether there should be a limit on the exemption from capital gains tax for the principal residence, which is entirely exempt from taxation. In the end they delivered no recommendation, and neither is it likely the government would wish to see any change.

Separately, the committee recommended aligning the taxation of furnished and unfurnished lettings, a proposal which has been has been in the wind for some time, and to which the government has also given its tentative support.

In his statement Bruno Le Maire also therefore announced that the government was proposing to abolish the 71% fixed allowance granted to classed holiday rentals - meublés de tourisme classés - which would only receive the standard 50% allowance. It remains unclear if chambres d'hotes, which also benefit from the 71% allowance, would be affected by the change.

In practice, the change would be unlikely to affect many landlords, most of whom would probably be tempted to opt for profit and loss accounting (régime réel) on their rental income, when they would obtain higher tax relief, albeit with additional accounting costs.