In every scenario you live in Villejuif for a few years, then move to a 60 m² rental in Paris. Three ways to use the same money until then. Each month, every scenario spends the same total: whichever costs less that month invests the difference in the market. Change any number and everything updates.
Each curve shows how likely each final result is across 300 simulated futures. A wider curve means more uncertainty. The tables and monthly chart below use the middle of each range.
Housing plus any top-up the rental needs. Your rent rises every year; a home loan payment doesn't.
The second studio is bought at the same kind of price and rent as the first, grown with the market. Your cash pays its notary fees and furniture; the bank lends the price.
Financially they're almost the same bet: the simulated medians sit within about €10k after 20 years, well inside the uncertainty. Choose on how much management you want.
| Studio (25 m², students) | T1 (30 m², young workers) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Lower (~€100–130k), smaller loan | About €20k more |
| Rent per m² | Highest | Slightly lower |
| Tenant stays | About one academic year | Often 2–3 years |
| Empty months | Summer gap is common | Rare, demand all year |
| Tenant's finances | Often parents or the Visale guarantee | Usually a salary, often a permanent contract |
| Turnover work | Every year | Much less often |
| Resale | Mostly to investors | Investors and first-time buyers |
Leaning: a T1 for young workers near a transit hub gives almost the same return with less work. A studio in a spot with both students and young workers (hospitals, schools, a big station) is just as valid.
Not in the towns on this page. They're all in a zone tendue, where a new tenant's rent can't exceed the previous tenant's, furnished or unfurnished, apart from major works or a rent clearly below the neighbourhood. The rule was just renewed until at least July 2027. Flats rated F or G can't have any increase. So students and long-staying tenants get the same yearly indexation (IRL); the student advantage is only the higher starting rent per m², already included in the numbers here.
A T2 rented to a couple or a young professional behaves like the T1, only more so: tenants stay longest, empty months are rarest, and resale to people buying to live there is easiest. The trade-off is a lower rent per m² and a bigger loan, so each empty month or bad surprise costs more, and it uses more of your borrowing capacity. Rents for the T2 are my estimates; check real listings in your target town.
| Item | Low | High | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxe foncière | €35 | €65 | About €400–800 a year. Paris charges €250–400 for 25 m², and most suburbs have higher rates. The waste-collection part can be passed to the tenant. |
| Co-ownership charges you can't pass on | €20 | €40 | Building management fees, part of the maintenance. Higher with a lift or caretaker. |
| Building works fund and special calls | €15 | €40 | Façade, roof, lift. Older buildings cost more; check the last 3 general meeting minutes before buying. |
| Landlord insurance (PNO) | €6 | €12 | About €80–150 a year. |
| LMNP accountant | €20 | €50 | About €250–600 a year; online services are at the low end. |
| CFE (business property tax) | €8 | €60 | Usually €100–700 a year. None in the first year of renting, half in the second, and none if rent stays under €5,000 a year, which a studio exceeds. |
| Repairs, furniture, re-letting | €20 | €50 | Appliances, paint between tenants, listings. |
| Total | ~€125 | ~€315 | The page now uses €210 for a studio, €240 for the T1 and €300 for the T2, with a −25% to +40% range in the uncertainty panel. |
Not included: rent-default insurance (GLI), about 2.5–3.5% of rent, which you may not need if the tenant has the free Visale guarantee. Rents on this page exclude the recoverable charges the tenant pays you back.
You must live in it as your main home for 6 years from when the PTZ is paid out. After that you can rent it freely, furnished or unfurnished, and keep repaying the PTZ on schedule. Check whether your bank loan offer needs the bank's approval, and whether the Action Logement loan has to be repaid once it stops being your main home. Renting it out also ends the capital-gains-tax exemption on your main home.
Any flat can be let furnished under LMNP as long as it has the required furniture and equipment. Unfurnished is a choice, not an obligation. Unfurnished means no depreciation, so you can pay income tax even while the flat costs you money each month.
Banks cap total loan payments at 35% of income and usually count 70% of expected rent. Flats rated G can't be rented since 2025, and F from 2028. The PTZ looks at your taxable income from two years before the loan offer. Since 2025, LMNP depreciation is added back to the capital gain when you sell.
Fair comparison: all three start with the same cash. Each month the most expensive option sets the budget, and the other two invest the difference at the market return in the account you chose. Wealth is what you'd walk away with if you sold everything that year, after loans, fees and taxes.
Rental: LMNP at the régime réel. Depreciation (85% of price and fees over 30 years, furniture over 7) offsets rental profit, and is added back to the capital gain on resale (2025 rule), with the usual holding allowances. Early repayment fee: the lower of 3% of the remaining balance or 6 months of interest.
Your home: a new build (RE2020, DPE A or B), so reduced notary fees. The PTZ covers a share of the price up to the cap and is repaid on the schedule for your band. The bank smooths its loan so the total monthly payment stays flat. Action Logement loan at 1% over 25 years. No capital gains tax on a main home. Part of the new-build premium is lost at resale, phased in over 5 years. The PTZ requires you to live there for 6 years; after that you can rent it out.
Home then rental: identical to owning until you move out. Then you rent a new home and let the flat. Unfurnished: rental income is taxed as revenus fonciers, using micro-foncier (30% flat allowance) when rent is under €15,000 a year and that's cheaper, otherwise the régime réel with interest, insurance and charges deducted and any loss carried forward against future rent (the extra €10,700/yr offset against your salary is not modelled). Furnished: LMNP, depreciating the flat on its value when you move out. Rent is excluding the charges your tenant pays back. Once it's no longer your main home, the sale is taxed like any investment property, with holding allowances counted from the purchase date. Estimates for comparison, not financial advice.