Paris doubles vacant‑home tax aiming to release 20,000 units

The Paris City Council voted on 17‑18 July 2026 to double the tax on vacant dwellings, effective 1 January 2027. Under the new scheme the levy rises from the current 17 % of the annual estimated rent in the first year of vacancy to 30 %, and from 34 % to 60 % in the second year. The municipality says about 150 000 homes—roughly 9 % of the city’s housing stock—are empty, of which around 80 000 are long‑term vacant. Officials hope the higher rates will bring roughly 20 000 of those homes back to the rental or sale market. Deputy mayor for housing Jacques Baudrier called the measure “a historic victory after ten years of struggle.” Opposition leader Gregory Canal warned that “you are setting the tax at the maximum allowed level, the average under the law is 17 % – this is not an incentive, it is fiscal over‑reach.” The policy is intended to curb speculative holding of second homes and to ease Paris’s chronic housing shortage.