2024 French property tax: which areas are seeing the highest rises?

Bills for France’s main property tax (taxe foncière) will begin arriving online for many people today, with some homeowners set for a significant increase in the amount payable. 

Certain communes, including Nice, Saint-Etienne, Annecy and Montreuil, voted for substantial rises in their own percentage rates, so bills there will rise further on top of a nationwide increase of 3.9% which will affect almost everyone.

Property owners who pay the tax in a single payment and opt to receive the notice through their personal space on the French tax site, will have received the bill today. 

Those who pay in instalments or receive the notice via post will receive it at a later date. 

Read more: LIST: Key dates in 2024 for France’s property owner’s tax

Property tax rise for all…

Regardless of how the notice is delivered, property owners will see a rise in the tax in 2024 apart from in rare cases where councils decided to lower their rates.

The tax is calculated based on the theoretical annual rental value of the property, called the valeur locative cadastrale (VLC). It takes into account location, construction quality, and comfort, amongst other factors.

Read more: Taxe foncière explainer: Who pays and the exemptions

Inflation in France is also used to calculate a general increase to these values each year.

The indice des prix à la consommation harmonisé calculated by national statistics body Insee is used for the national increase. Figures from 2023 (used to calculate 2024’s tax) saw inflation rise by 3.9%, giving this general increase to the VLCs.

This is significantly lower than for 2023’s bills (based on 2022 inflation levels) that saw bills rise by 7.1% before local increases or decreases were implemented.

… but some cities charge extra

The taxe foncière is one of the few remaining income sources that local councils can control directly by voting for changes to their percentage rates, and which they collect themselves, as opposed to being given a central government grant.

The bills are based on taking half of a property’s VLC and applying the rates set by the mairie (in some cases also a part levied by an intercommunal body).

In 2023, many mayors said a rise in their rate was necessary to make up for a loss of income from changes to France’s other main property tax, taxe d’habitation (which is now only levied on second homes), although the government said funds equal to this amount were reallocated from the state to each commune. 

In that year, Paris raised the tax by 52%, Grenoble by 25%, and dozens of others by 10% or more. 

In 2024, a study of the rates set by towns and cities by Cabinet FSL, specialist in local taxation, found that among those with a population of 100,000 81% have kept their rates unchanged (except from the general 3.9% increase to the VLCs). 

The seven communes of this size where rates have increased were: Nice (by an additional 15.8%), Saint-Étienne (14.1%) Nancy and Annecy (13.4%) Villeurbanne; (9.8%), Montreuil (5%), and Saint-Denis-de-la-Réunion (2.7%).

85% of smaller towns and cities – with a population of between 40,000 and 100,000 have not increased their rates and in the main those which did so opted for a moderate rise.

The highest national increase was in Saint-Priest (in the Lyon suburbs), where rates rose 16.3%. 

This was followed by Nice, Saint-Etienne, Nancy and Annecy (figures above). The only other urban commune to raise an additional surcharge of 10% or higher is Neuilly-sur-Seine. 

Five towns with a population of 40,000 or more lowered their rates, although property owners will still pay more than last year as this will not be enough to offset the national rise.

These were Brive-la-Gaillarde and Wattrelos (-0.40%), Tarbes (-0.60%), Castres (-1%) and Mantes-la-Jolie (-2.60%). 

Changes for all communes with a population of 40,000 or more can be seen here. 

Information for all of France’s 30,000 plus communes is not widely available.