It’s a park property “Extremely Extensive” who is “present in almost all countries of the world”. “This park has a significant scale, both in relation to other European countries and in relation to the main players in the private sector”, specifies the report of the Court of Auditors published at the beginning of December. This very extensive real estate portfolio is “faces the challenges of rationalization and standards with respect to climate issues. »
The Court of Auditors notes that the current organization and resources will not be able to deal with this “investment wall” which arises in the context of the necessary rationalization and preparation for climate change. It calls on the state to define a much clearer and more voluntary strategy.
How big is the park?
Gigantic. As of December 31, 2022, 192,550 buildings with a total area of 94.4 m2 were identified. For comparison, Germany has 60 million m2, Finland 5.9 million. The specialty of the French park is the variety of goods and surfaces. So, “This diversity is demonstrated by two elements in particular: the 29 largest buildings are each more than 50,000 m² and represent a total of 3.1 million m²; 38,957 buildings are less than 100 m² and represent 2.2 million m². Offices represent 24% of the area, i.e. 22.8 million m2. This is followed by educational or sports buildings (school, gymnasium, etc.), technical buildings (20%), housing (19%), health and social buildings (10%) and cultural buildings (3.5%).
Which ministry has the most m2?
It is the area of higher education, especially universities, which have 24.4 million used surfaces. Almost as much as the Department of the Armed Forces. If we add the Ministries of the Interior and Justice, between them they occupy 43.9 million m² (gendarmerie, barracks, prefectures, courts, prisons, etc.). Conversely, the Ministry of Agriculture is one of those with the least m²: 1.4 million.
Is the national housing stock growing or falling?
Falling. The state is trying to accelerate sale of own goods. Sometimes even go looking for foreign investors. In ten years, the gross usable area of the state real estate portfolio “was reduced by 7%, from 101.2 million m² as of 31 December 2013 to 94.4 million m² as of 31 December 2022, mainly due to reorganizations of the military and territorial administration”, details the overview. And the government wants to go even further. Ministers Bruno Le Maire (Economy) and Thomas Cazenave (Public Accounts) announced a few weeks ago that they wanted “reduce the area occupied by administration by 25%”. Taking into account the new forms of work also in the administration, the ministers want to reduce the number of m² per public employee from 24 to 16 m2. This represents 22 million square meters. The equivalent of over 3,000 football pitches!
What is the condition of the park?
14% of the park is rated as in very satisfactory condition and 22% in satisfactory condition. But the report notes that “the building health indicator only covers an area of 61.2 million m²” (out of 94.4 million). Which leads the Court of Auditors to state that “The park is still poorly known, although progress has been made over the past ten years “. Sages warn against this “Public real estate today sees a wall of upgrades and investment ahead of them.”. As part of ecological planning, the costs of the works to be carried out are estimated to be between 140 and 150 billion euros by 2050.
Is it possible to buy state property?
Yes. AND pages even lists all real estate ads for sale: real estate-etat.gouv.fr. “The State Department of Real Estate continues to transfer real estate that has become useless or unsuitable for public service (…). These transfers, which are open to all, are in principle carried out on the basis of publication and tendering, through a tendering process or by awarding a contract., we can read on the web. Here you will find ads for apartments for sale, castle guard houses, building plots, administrative buildings in Lille, etc.
According to the report on the activities of the State Department of Real Estate, income from the sale of real estate in 2022 amounted to 298 million euros.