Insee Première · June 2021 · n° 1865

50 Years of Change in Primary Residences: Larger Dwellings Housing Fewer People

As at 1 January 2018, there were 29 million primary residences in metropolitan France. Over the last 50 years, the number of primary residences has increased by 1.2% per year, which is 2.5 times faster than the population (+0.5%). This increase in the housing stock has been accompanied by a decohabitation phenomenon linked to changes in lifestyle: as a result, the average number of people per household has fallen from 3.1 in 1968 to 2.2 in 2018.

The increase in the number of homes is especially marked in the suburbs of the functional areas of cities. The size of houses has increased significantly, particularly in the suburbs and in municipalities outside of the functional areas of cities.

In 2018, almost all primary residences were equipped with a shower or bathtub, whereas this would only have been the case for half of them fifty years earlier. During this period, gas and electric heating became more popular than fuel oil.