France cuts VAT rate on new housing

The French VAT rate on the construction of social housing will be reduced from 5% to 5% from January 2014.  This will represent a cost of over €650 million.

The French Value Added Tax rate change has been announced this week by the French President, Francois Holland, to help support the struggling low-cost housing market.  It is anticipated that it will lead to an extra 22,500 new builds per year, and generating over 45,000 jobs.

The new, social housing build market has collapsed recently, down 20% since the start of 2012.