Insee Première · December 2023 · n° 1976

The need for main residences, primary factor in the transformation of natural, agricultural and forest areas for housing

Housing development represented around two thirds of the consumption of natural, agricultural and forestry land between 2009 and 2019. The need for main residences, consequences of the population growth and the drop in the average size of households, explained two thirds of this land consumption. The increase in the number of second homes, particularly in tourist areas, but also, indirectly, of vacant dwellings, also contributed. The construction of individual houses and lower buildings increased the footprint of housing, but a drop in the average surface of ​homes attenuated the effect in some departments.

Between 2009 and 2019 land consumption for housing increased particularly in the overseas departments, in Corsica and in the south‑western quarter of France. The increase was more moderate in Île-de-France.