A new report shows that the number of vacant homes in France has reached a record.

According the Insee, the French national statistics agency, there were 3.1 million empty homes in France last year, equivalent to 8.2% of the housing stock.

That is an increase of 60% since 1990, when 1.9 million homes (7.2%) were empty.

Most of the increase occurred between 2005 and 2017, an increase averaging 3.3% a year, since when the annual increase has dropped to 0.8%.

Between 2005 and 2023 the number of vacant homes increased 2.3 times faster than the increase in the total number of homes.

The graphic below shows in red the increase in the number of dwellings since 1990.

The study does not differentiate between short and long-term vacancies but the agency states that long-term vacancies generally reflect a "demographic decline, a mismatch between supply and demand, old/insanitary housing, disputes between tenants and owners or succession problems".

More broadly, they say are linked to the change in population, construction and tax and regulatory policies, as well as the changes in the economy.

The agency states the increase affects all departments, save for the department of Herault, where there has been strong population growth, although even here the vacancy rate is still 7.1%.

The department with the highest vacancy rate is Creuse, where nearly 16% of the houses are empty. It is followed by Allier (14.9%) and Nièvre (14%).

Other departments where the vacancy rate is 11%+ are Ardennes, Corrèze, Haute-Marne, Haute-Loire, Cher, Yonne, Indre, Meuse, Orne, Lot-et-Garonne and Vosges.

Those departments with the lowest vacancy rate (under 6%) are Vendée (5%), Loire-Atlantique (5.6%), and Hautes-Alpes (5.7%).

The graphic below shows those departments with the highest vacancy rate in dark blue, as well as the average vacancy rate in all other departments.