Self‐promoted housing and capitalist suppliers: The case of France

Abstract

Abstract Self‐promoted housing ‐ in which individual households both initiate and consume the dwelling ‐accounts for around 40 per cent of French annual house building, more than the output of speculative developers. While the sector encompasses a range of different options, including self‐building, it is dominated by capitalist firms taking profits from both land development and the construction process. This picture thus counteracts the received wisdom that self‐promotion is essentially an individualised form of housing provision. The paper concentrates on the production aspects of the French system, arguing that, while it may well have some beneficial effects in the form of consumer choice, it is becoming increasingly hard to sustain in its current form. This is because of falling consumer subsidies, rising land prices and a steady erosion of profitability as speculative developers have made inroads into the market. To counteract these trends, producers of self‐promoted housing are now adopting more flexible production systems and have tried to offer a more individualised product.