Introduction to renting in French cities
Rent ranking: from the most expensive to the cheapest
To help us get a clearer picture of the situation, LocService.fr ranked the cities where students live in France based on the average price of a student studio apartment (one-bedroom apartment), from the most expensive to the cheapest:
➡️ If you choose to play at Le Mans (34. Le Mans), Limoges (33. Limoges) or Poitiers (32. Poitiers) and can save around 30% on rent compared to cities such as Lyon, Bordeaux or Marseille. The cheapest cities are not without their attractiveness, and overall, they offer a pleasant environment and high-quality training.
Compare rent increases across cities
LocService also provides us with a service of comparing rents in various cities in recent years, and we can choose eight cities to compare at will, so that we can make the best choice!
Student rents: Trending upward
In 2023, Paris remains the city with the highest cost of living for students. Although rents in the region have been on a downward trend since the health crisis (€857 in 2021 and €849 in 2022), in the last 12 months rents in the region have started to rise again, reaching €881.
Nice is no exception, with students paying €649 per month for a studio apartment rent. Annecy is also an expensive city for young people, with the average rent for a studio apartment being 610 euros. In recent years, the price of studio apartments in other student towns in France has increased. Pointe-à-Pitre saw the biggest gain, rising 171 euros in a year to reach a total of 670 euros. In Lyon and Rennes, it is even more difficult for students to find housing, and the rise in rents is complemented by the tight market.
summary
✨ Despite the high overall standard of living in France, there are still many cities where the cost of renting is relatively affordable, making it a cost-effective choice for international students. In an international metropolis like Paris, although the cost of renting is generally high, many international students are still willing to pay for it, considering its rich educational resources, strong cultural atmosphere and broad employment prospects. However, for students on a budget, there are many cities outside of Paris that are just as worth considering!
How does Xiaobai find a house?
Crous
Crous must be familiar to everyone.
Here is a brief introduction to Crous, whose full name is Centre régional des œuvres universitaires et scolaires, which provides services for students in terms of housing, transportation, and food. One of the most well-known is the Crous student housing, which can be applied to all legally registered students for higher education. The housing provided by it is generally cheap, safe, convenient and well-equipped.
Who doesn't want that kind of good, and that's why the Crous student housing in Paris is always in high demand, thanks to the large number of students in Paris. Here I would like to remind everyone that most international students can only wait until the supplementary application process to find out if they want to apply for Crous housing, and some schools will provide a certain amount of Crous housing to international students.
Tarifs: Rent for student housing in Crous is around 200-500 euros per month, which can be found at the following link: https://www.crous-paris.fr/logements/nosresidences/
For detailed Crous student housing science and strategies, you can check Xiaodu's previous tweets!
Cité internationale
Is there such a good place to be in the international university city of Paris?
Founded in 1925, it is located in the south of the 14th arrondissement of Paris. At that time, in view of the shortage of student dormitories after World War I, France launched a plan to build student dormitories in the south of Paris, and opened up international bidding, and many governments and private institutions also participated, and a large number of modern student dormitories of different styles were built before World War II, including Swiss Building, Brazilian Building and other student dormitories in many countries.
Since 2014, the Beijing government has invested in the construction of the China Building, which is still under construction and is expected to be completed in 2025, with 300 independent dormitories and a 500-person cultural activity hall.
To this day, there are more than 40 university dormitories spread over a large garden of 40 hectares, with a total of more than 5,600 beds, and more than 140 nationalities are administered, mainly by foundations or governments that fund the construction of university towns.
About 75% of the students are international students and 25% are French students. It's well equipped, rents are cheap, it's easy to get around, and it's a place where you can meet students from all over the world and enjoy the cultural diversity!
Tarifs: €400-600/month. Interested students can visit the official website of Cité internationale to view or apply.
At a private owner's home
In addition to renting through a real estate agent, there are of course some channels that can directly contact the landlord for a transaction!
Many students will choose to trade through a real estate agent when renting a house, but there is still a great risk in this, first, it is impossible to guarantee the authenticity of the housing information, and secondly, it is likely to be charged a high intermediary fee.
Therefore, in order to avoid being "middlemen making the difference", students can also directly consult, view and trade with the landlord through some channels!
Lokaviz offers students more than 2,000 housing units in 477 municipalities throughout France, where you can find Crous properties in various regions, as well as individual properties (bedrooms, single rooms, apartments, shared houses, etc.). Students can get real information about verified hosts directly on the Lokaviz website, and they can communicate directly with hosts on the platform.
Tarifs: Prices vary depending on the different types of housing in different areas of Paris, but here are two examples: a 20 m² furnished studio apartment in the 19th arrondissement of Paris costs 650 euros per month, and a 15 m² furnished studio apartment in the 5th arrondissement costs 670 euros per month.
In a home
Many people don't know that there are many "student homes" in France!
The Foyer Étudiant Student House is a class of student accommodation run by the French government for students from all over the world. There are single and shared rooms, as well as communal areas, and some student homes offer additional services such as laundry and gyms.
In addition to the facilities, the student houses are generally in excellent locations, such as the Paris Student House opposite the Jardin du Luxembourg, just a few minutes away from Notre Dame Cathedral and the banks of the Seine, and close to several schools including the Sorbonne University and the language center!
Student homes in France accept French and international students, generally between the ages of 18 and 25, mostly foyers mixtes, but there are some special student houses that only accept boys, girls or religious believers. In addition to this, there are a number of Foyers des Jeunes Travailleurs who take in young people who are already in the workforce.
Rates:
Foyer de Simplon Paris 18e:680欧元/月或600欧元/月(更小的房间)
Foyer Jeunes Pros Paris la Défense:560欧元/月
For more information and application, please visit the official website:
https://www.foyersetudiants.org/
In an elderly person
You heard it right! Live with the elderly!
Intergenerational cohabitation代际合租,是在法国流行的一种新的合租模式,自2018年起被纳入Elan进行管理并受到Solidarity Intergenerational Conhousing Contract合同的约束。
Young people under the age of 30 who are looking for housing, and those over 60 who have a spare room in their home, can accompany the elderly and provide services such as helping them with household chores, going out shopping, etc., while at the same time being able to rent a satisfactory house at a low or even free (rare) price!
Tarifs: €250-€500/month
There are many institutions in France that provide intergenerational co-housing services, and together form a French national intergenerational co-housing network, Cohabilis, interested students can visit the relevant pages of intergenerational co-housing on the official website of Cohabilis https://www.cohabilis.org/tout-savoir-sur-la-cohabitation-intergenerationnelle/
Not only in Paris, but also in France, there are far more rental channels than the above, Xiaodu believes and wishes everyone can find their satisfactory housing in France, enjoy a good French life!