The Rent Is Now Somewhat Less High in Paris

Rent control laws in the city of Paris are doing exactly what they were designed to do. That’s what France’s Minister for Housing, Emmanuelle Cosse, has been saying in recent celebratory interviews to the French media. It’s been roughly a year since France put in place strict restrictions on rent rises in Paris and other “strained zones” across the country. And while it’s Cosse’s job to defend legislation introduced by her government, there is indeed evidence in the past year’s figures to back up the assertion that the law changes are doing their job.

According to figures released by Paris’s Rent Observatory this week, 30 percent of the city’s new residential rental contracts signed over the past year have come in lower than the previous contract for the same properties. For Parisian renters in search of a better deal, that’s certainly good news. Critics of the new law are nonetheless complaining that the drop in monthly rents for new residential leases is uneven and comes with other unwelcome side effects.