Areas under real estate stress

ABC zoning review: what impact on housing subsidies?

Publié le 29 septembre 2025 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The classification of municipalities in zones A, B or C is revised following a decree of 5 September 2025. This zoning, which determines the degree of local tension in the housing market, also defines the eligibility criteria for certain public housing subsidies. Will this new distribution have an impact on your situation? Public Service inform you.

ABC zoning classifies municipalities into geographical areas, based on the imbalance between supply and demand of housing. It's an indicator of level of tension in the local market.

Its revision has concrete consequences in the field of housing, in particular:

  • propose more advantageous scales for certain housing subsidies such as the zero-interest loan (PTZ), the solidarity-based real lease, the social rental-accession loan (PSLA), as well as the tax reductions Denormandie and Loc'Avantages;
  • expanding access to intermediate rental housing (LLI) for households whose incomes exceed the social housing ceilings (LLIs are housing with regulated rents below market prices. They were created to provide access to affordable housing in areas stretched to the middle classes without access to the social park);
  • develop rental supply in tense areas : to promote the construction of social housing through operations financed by social rental loans (PLS).

The more advantageous scale for the zero-interest loan (PTZ), the solidarity real lease, the social lease-accession loan, as well as the tax reductions Denormandie and Loc'Avantages, made possible by the zoning revision, should benefit 2.4 million French people.

468 municipalities reclassified

The order of 5 September 2025 reclassified 468 municipalities.

More than half of them went into “tense” areas (A, A bis and B1):

  • 64 communes have moved to zone A;
  • 10 municipalities have moved to zone A bis;
  • 247 municipalities have moved to zone B1
  • 147 municipalities have moved to zone B2;
  • 19 municipalities are downgraded to a lower tension zone.

Reminder

The 5 zones are designated in order of decreasing imbalance :

  • Zone A: large agglomerations where demand is high (Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Montpellier, etc.).
  • Zone A bis: Paris and its nearby suburbs with an extremely strong rental demand.
  • Area B1: dynamic medium-sized cities and border or coastal areas.
  • Zone B2: small towns or municipalities where the tension is moderate.
  • Zone C: Relaxed areas where supply exceeds demand.

Verify eligibility for housing loans

The provisions relating to the new classification of municipalities shall apply to loan offers issued as of september 30, 2025.

Several simulators allow you to assess your situation:

Please note

This revision of the zones is part of a regular process of adjustment. The last general review was carried out in August 2014. Partial revisions have been made since, in July 2019, February 2022, October 2023 and July 2024.

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