#REAL ESTATE
Between late 1990 and early 1998, housing prices in Paris fell 30% in current euros, according to IGEDD, an inspectorate of France's environment ministry.
Published on August 26, 2026
In its 2024 note "Housing prices, rents and income per household", submitted to the French Senate's inquiry into the housing crisis, IGEDD records that in Paris, between late 1990 and early 1998, housing prices fell 30% in current euros. Measured against disposable income per household, prices returned to their 1986 and 1980 levels. Data from the Paris Chamber of Notaries, which underpins the Notaires-Insee indices, documents the same episode through the average price per square metre for existing flats: 3,530 euros in the first quarter of 1991, 2,250 euros in the first quarter of 1998, a fall of 36%. In that same series, the average price only climbs back above its early-1991 level in the fourth quarter of 2002 — nearly twelve years later, and in nominal terms only. IGEDD also notes that in Paris between 1840 and 1913, a period when consumer price inflation averaged 0.4% a year, housing prices fell in more than one year out of four.
Can property prices fall for years, rather than merely stagnate?
In Paris they fell 30% in current euros between late 1990 and early 1998, and it took until the end of 2002 to regain the nominal level of 1991.
In other words: "property never falls" is a claim whose observation window happens to start in 1998.
Four caveats, because they matter
- The two figures do not measure the same thing: IGEDD uses a quality-adjusted index, the notaries use an average price per square metre, which is sensitive to the mix of transactions.
- Paris is not France: the fall was sharper in the Paris region than elsewhere, and complete departmental series only begin in 1996.
- A 30% nominal fall implies a larger fall in real terms, since consumer prices kept rising over the period.
- One past episode does not predict the next: it only establishes that a prolonged fall is possible, not that it will recur.
Why it still matters: the belief that bricks and mortar never lose value rests on a chosen observation period, not on the long series.
For you
- Which year does your series start in when you say property never falls?
- Did you know it took Paris twelve years to regain its nominal price level of early 1991?
Source: IGEDD, "Housing prices, rents and income per household", note for the French Senate inquiry into the housing crisis, 2024; Paris Chamber of Notaries, price per square metre underlying the Notaires-Insee indices.
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