And not only in Paris...

In Athens you have to pay 450€ for a cave (without bills), when the minimal wage is at 667€

The pressure on that market also enables landlords to ask for pretty much any information on renters.

Oh you have good revenue but don't want to give your paycheck over the last two years ? Ok let me put that folder with your name on it and put it where it belongs at the bottom of the pile.

A lot of things you have to give are illegal to ask to renters.

On the other hand the law here in France seems really bad when it comes to squatters and it can be insanely difficult to get someone out when they don't pay the rent. Litteraly years in some cases and your bank will still ask for interest on the money you borrowed.

So landlords asks for the best and more solid candidates because they could quite literally lose their investment because someone took a place knowing very well they could just not pay and have no consequences.

A minority of people who can pay rent and choose not to are ruining rent opportunities for others with modest revenue but who actually are willing to pay their rent.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying oh the poor landlords or anything just trying to say how it works in Paris and in France for this market.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

To try and tackle the issue, the French government will extend its 0% interest rate loans for low-income families and will open it up to more people next year to help them get on the property ladder.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of professionals reported a fall in the number of properties available to rent compared to last year, according to a statement by France’s National Real Estate Federation (FNAIM), and 66% also saw an increase in demand.

“The increase in credit rates and the tightening of conditions imposed on borrowers prevent some tenants from accessing property; they stay in place longer, slowing down the mobility of the stock,” said Loïc Cantin, FNAIM’s president, in August.

The tension in the rental market is feeling even more pressure due to the 2024 Olympic Games, which will see an influx of visitors, volunteers and teams descend on Paris.

The government faced intense criticism when it decided to force out over 2,000 students from their rent-controlled apartments - dedicated to them specifically - to host Olympic staff during the summer.

In Europe, Spain paved the way with its first-ever national “right to housing” law - adopted last year - which included a tax for owners leaving accommodation unrented for lengthy periods.

The original article contains 669 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I'm not saying that there isn't a housing crisis but that article is a huge pile of BS.

I'm not familiar with Paris but I doubt there are a lot of furnished studio apartments compared to ones without furniture so the 6 months seems like cherry picked data.

Also the part where they talk about rent prices compared to median income is just wrong:

In London, the average rent for a one-bedroom flat in the city centre is now nearly €2,500 per month. The sum is more than three times the median monthly wage in the UK.

So you're telling me the median monthly wage in the uk is ~800€, yeah right...

The same thing is happening in Amsterdam, with the average rent being over €1,500 per month, more than two times the median wage in the Netherlands.

Oh and in the Netherlands it's less than 750€?

A quick google search tells me that the median wage in the uk is ~2600€ and for the netherlands I couldn't find a value for the median wage but the average in 2022 according to statista is >4000€ a month.