Insee, France’s national statistics institute, released an updated estimate of the country’s housing stock as of January 1, 2026, on September 30. France, excluding the overseas territory of Mayotte, has 38.6 million dwellings, with 31.9 million serving as primary residences. Among households, 57.3 percent are owners of their main residence. However, the distribution of ownership is changing. Since 2020, the share of households that still have mortgages has decreased from 21.4 percent to 19.8 percent. These are referred to as owner-occupiers with outstanding loans. In contrast, the share of owners without repayment obligations has increased, reaching 37.6 percent in 2026, compared to 36.2 percent in 2020. Despite these shifts, the overall proportion of owners has remained nearly stable since 2011, with a slight decline of 0.4 percentage points over fifteen years. The trend reflects two opposing paths. The number of owners without loans had decreased from 37.9 percent to 36.2 percent between 2013 and 2020, but has since increased. Meanwhile, the number of owner-occupiers with outstanding loans had risen between 2014 and 2020 before decreasing by 1.6 percentage points from 2020 to 2026. This movement is not new. Between 1989 and 2006, the share of owner-occupiers with outstanding loans had already decreased from 26.0 percent to 19.5 percent. Insee has also made methodological changes to its estimates, incorporating the 2024 Housing Survey, which replaces the 2020 data in metropolitan France. This has led to revisions in the occupancy status data from 2015 onward, reducing the share of owner-occupiers with outstanding loans by up to 2.7 percentage points for 2025. The revised data show that the peak in such households occurred in 2020, followed by a steady decline. Other occupancy statuses have changed little over time. The share of renters has remained around 40 percent for forty years, standing at 40.4 percent in 2026. Private landlords provide housing for 23.2 percent of households, an increase of 1.2 percentage points since 2008. Public landlords, however, have seen a decline, from 18.7 percent in 1997 to 17.3 percent in 2026. The share of households living in dwellings free of charge has also decreased, from 7.8 percent in 1982 to 2.3 percent in 2026. The growth of the housing stock has slowed since 2016, with an average annual increase of 0.8 percent. In comparison, the growth rate was higher between 2000 and 2009, at 1.2 percent per year. Insee notes that the housing stock continues to grow faster than the population, which has led to a decrease in the number of people per dwelling. Vacancy rates have also declined, with the share of vacant dwellings dropping from 8.1 percent in 2019 to 7.6 percent in 2026. Insee clarifies that a vacant dwelling is not necessarily permanently empty—it may be awaiting sale, rental, or inheritance. The country has 2.9 million unoccupied dwellings and 3.8 million second homes or occasional dwellings. These differences in occupancy are also reflected across regions and household types, with single-parent families more likely to rent social housing and younger individuals more likely to rent in the private market. Overall, owners tend to live in larger homes, while renters and younger people are more likely to experience overcrowding. Nearly a quarter of households have moved in less than four years, with a third of them purchasing their homes afterward.