5,500 transactions and €1.5 billion in 2025, +25% since 2020 when the classic falls by 18%: life annuity goes from niche status to that of a structural shock absorber of the French real estate market.
Since 2022, the French real estate market has been experiencing an unprecedented sequence. Credit rate increased to 3.35% over 20 years in May 2026, borrowing capacity down 18% in four years, transaction volumes fell to 921,000 over twelve rolling months compared to a peak of 1.07 million in 2021. The diagnosis is unanimous: the machine has seized up from above. However, within this paralyzed market, a historically marginal segment continues to progress against the tide: life annuity.
A segment that grows when the rest declines
According to the Viagimmo Observatory, life annuity totaled 5,500 transactions in 2025 for a business volume of 1.5 billion euros. Cumulative growth since 2020 has reached 25%, compared to an 18% drop in traditional transactions over the same period. For the first time, a marginal segment of French real estate is moving in the opposite direction from the main market. This is not a cycle accident: it is a sign that a structural mechanism is being put in place.
Sector projections converge towards 15,000 to 18,000 annual transactions by 2035, for a business volume of 3.5 to 4.2 billion euros. At this level, life annuity no longer represents a residual segment but a real component of the French residential market, with a market share increasing from around 1.2% today to 3-4% over the next ten years.
The contraction of credit as an accelerator
The adoption mechanics can be summed up in three figures. First, 35% of mortgage loan applications are refused in 2026 compared to 27% in 2022. Then, the maximum borrowing capacity of a typical household fell from 250,000 to 205,000 euros over the same period. Finally, 38% of buyers rejected by their bank turned to life annuity as an alternative solution in 2025-2026.
For the investor, the economic calculation is now favorable. The life annuity offers a discount of 30 to 50% on the market value of the property (45% at 75 years, 52% at 80 years), an annual return observed between 6 and 9%, and the absence of compulsory bank financing: 70% of buyers finance their purchase without a real estate loan. In the traditional market, these conditions simply do not exist.
For the seller, the proposition is just as clear. An average initial package of €58,431 paid upon signature, a monthly annuity of €554, continued housing for 83% of transactions, and a tax reduction of 70% on the taxable portion of the annuity for annuitants over 70 years old. The average increase in monthly income observed amounts to 27% compared to the previous situation.
Demography as a driving force
The French demographic context makes this movement structural. France will have 19 million people over 60 in 2025, or 27.8% of the population. Among them, 11.5 million own their main residence. But only 28% have direct heirs, and 4.7 million live on less than €1,200 per month. The proportion of seniors without descendants is expected to increase from 18% in 2025 to 25% in 2040 according to INSEE projections, a direct consequence of the decline in fertility observed since the 1980s.
This configuration creates an unprecedented alignment of interests. On the one hand, several million elderly owners with illiquid real estate assets, absent or distant heirs, and insufficient retirement income. On the other, a generation of young buyers facing a wall of bank credit and increasing difficulty in accessing property through traditional channels. The life annuity bridges the two.
Institutionalization marks a turning point
The arrival of structured financial players on this market is profoundly changing its perception. Since 2024, Caisse des Dépôts has been piloting an intermediated life annuity program which pools the longevity risk for sellers. The Certivia fund, supported in particular by Tikehau Capital, directly purchases life annuity properties on behalf of institutional investors. Several SCIs and specialized funds are positioning themselves in the segment.
On the agency side, networks such as Viagimmo, Univers Viager, Renouveau Bail or Cogeviag structure a professionalized offer, with calculation standards (Daubry 2024-2025 scale, INSEE 2024 tables) which bring life annuity closer to a standardized financial product. In regional markets, independent agencies specialize: in Montpellier for example, Alpaca Immobilier offers a structured life annuity service on the northern crown of the metropolis, with dedicated estimation and notarial coordination. This densification of the offer on a local scale is probably as important as the arrival of funds: it is this which makes life annuity accessible beyond the major financial centers.
Three conditions for scaling up
Three obstacles remain to be removed for life annuity to move from the status of a market shock absorber to that of a standard. First, the cultural taboo: the life annuity remains perceived in France as a bet on life inherited from a moral reading which ignores the real financial mechanics of the product. Education is insufficient, including among general notaries and wealth advisors. Secondly, the standardization of contracts: variations in the clauses (annuity review, early exit, transmission) maintain a perception of opacity which deters new purchasers. Third, the absence of a secondary market: a buyer cannot today easily resell his life debt, which undermines the overall liquidity of the segment.
These three obstacles are not insoluble. The first concerns financial education, and the increasing media coverage of the subject by institutional actors contributes to it. The second and third call for more structured intervention, probably through the adoption of standard contracts by notarial chambers and the gradual creation of a market for the transfer of life claims, based on the model of what exists in the United Kingdom with equity releases and their active secondary market.
Life annuity alone will not resolve the paralysis of the French real estate market. But it has a structural advantage that the other solutions mentioned (PTZ, BRS, assisted first-time homeownership) lack: it does not depend on bank credit and does not consume public money. In a context where the State is reducing its budgetary margins and where banks are tightening their criteria, this is probably the most discreetly powerful solution. On condition that we stop looking at it as a moral curiosity and treat it as what it has become: a structured financial product which responds to a real economic blockage.
