Parisian co-ownership fees now cheaper

Owners of Paris property in copropriétés — co-owned buildings — saw their fees decrease by 7.4% in 2014, according to a new index report by the Fnaim (National Federation of Real Estate) published on 22^nd September.

The new edition of the Observatory of co-ownership fees in Greater Paris, a database including 9352 buildings comprising 297,284 co-ownership units in Paris and its immediate suburbs, revealed significant savings for Parisian owners in copropriétés who saw their fees drop last year, costing an average of 37.05 euros per square meter against 40.02 euros in 2013.

The results are consistent with a previous report by Fnaim observing a decline in fees during the first half of 2014.

This averages at 2074.80 euros in fees per unit (an average building in the French capital contains 27.7 units) and means that with the 7.4% reduction, owners saved an average of 166 euros per unit last year. This comes after several years of rising co-ownership costs.

According to the Fnaim, these savings are mainly due to the decline in heating costs. Indeed, the heating budget for Parisian buildings thawed by 24.7%, mainly because “2014 was the warmest year of the century” explains the Observatory.

Moreover, General Secretary of Fnaim in Greater Paris, Pierre-Hervé Léturmy, believes that “efforts to decrease energy expenditure by co-owners as well as building works carried out with this objective in mind” are additional reasons for heating costs being cut, despite this factor not being quantified in the study.

Attractive premiums granted as part of the energy savings certificates (CEE) may well have prompted several co-owners to update their buildings’ heating systems and thermal insulation.

The decline in costs varies from one building to the next, with those built between 1918 and 1950 enjoying a 29.9% reduction against only 15.2% in older buildings.

Fees regarding elevators and insurance also shrunk, with costs falling by 14.7% and 17% respectively. This is due to elevator maintenance contracts having been renegotiated last year in light of a significantly larger offer from various manufacturers. Declines in the number of claims made insurance premiums for most buildings considerably cheaper.

One significant item contained in the fees, water, has remained relatively stable, increasing by 0.2% in 2014 — this fee averaged at 250.9 euros per unit (the equivalent of 2.1 euros per square meter) compared with 246 euros per unit in 2013.

However, other expenses have increased, mainly standard fees to be paid to syndics — or co-ownership trustees — which have gone up by 6.5%. The Fnaim explains that this is due to certain provisions of the Loi Alur, such as the need to create a separate bank account for the management of the co-owned building. This represents an average of 174.7 euros per unit (3.2€/m2) up from 164 euros per unit (2.99€/m2) in 2013.

Another factor revealed by the study is the far from negligible quantity of building works undertaken by Parisian co-ownerships last year. At a median rate of 34.74 euros per square meter, this amounts to an average of 1947.6 euros per unit — almost as much as the co-ownership fees themselves.

In all, Parisian co-owners spent 2 billion euros in building works in 2014. The Fnaim said that its observatory would closely monitor this figure, which strongly impacts owners and the overall cost of their real estate property.

Photo credit: Flickr / Jean-Pierre Dalbéra