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This statistic presents the rental tension index* in the main cities of France in 2025. This index measures the difficulty of finding housing by comparing the number of tenant applicants to the number of available offers in the targeted city. Thus, Lyon stood out as the city where the rental market was under the most pressure, followed by Rennes, while the Parisian capital ranked third in the ranking.

The rental market in France

The rental market was particularly tight in 2024, especially in Lyon, Rennes, and Paris, where demand far exceeded the supply of available housing. These disparities between major cities were also reflected in the evolution of the Real Estate Price Index, which showed a general downward trend in metropolitan France since 2023. In January 2024, Paris and Lyon saw their prices decrease by more than * percent, while Nantes recorded a drop of * percent compared to early 2023. However, the city of Montpellier observed a *** percent increase in its prices.

At the same time, the Rent Reference Index (IRL), which directly conditions the variation of rents for rental housing, continued to rise compared to previous years. It then reached * in the fourth quarter of 2024. The increase in this index allows landlords to apply a rent revision for the properties they put up for rent. In 2024, a studio or T1 rented on average *** U.S. dollars per month, T3 apartments at *** U.S. dollars, while houses, often located in rural areas, had an average rent of U.S. dollars.

Student housing

Studios and T1 apartments, particularly sought after by students, represented ** percent of rental requests in 2024, making them the most demanded housing on the market. Their rents remained high, especially in the Paris region, where prices were significantly above the national average of *** U.S. dollars per month. Thus, * of the ** most expensive student cities were located in Île-de-France, with rents several hundred U.S. dollars higher than in the provinces. Strong disparities also existed between major French cities: Paris, Nice, and Lyon were the most expensive with student rents well above average, while cities like Le Havre or Brest offered more affordable rents, below *** U.S. dollars per month. The price per square meter being significantly higher in Paris, a student with a budget of *** U.S. dollars per month could rent a ** m² apartment in Rouen, compared to only ** m² in the capital.

In addition to these high rents, the overall cost of living in university cities such as Paris, Nice, and Lyon, including daily expenses, increased the financial pressure on student tenants.