In Lyon, the race against the student’s watch to find accommodation

The real estate market is particularly tense in big cities, which pushes students to chain as many visits as possible during the summer. By trying to find the rare pearl by avoiding scams.

At a time when some bask in a deckchair, others are on deck to find accommodation. It is the most intense period for real estate agencies as for students and their parents. The market is particularly tense in big cities like Lyon. Not enough offers to respond to all requests, it’s a race against the watch.

These parents of Besançon spend three days in Lyon to find accommodation for their daughter. It is actually a very moments of concern, according to Alexandra, the mother. “Between the answers, the reminders, the new announcements that appear, it’s dense. Not 24 hours a day, but let’s say sixteen!”she smiles. This is the case since Lila knew that she was accepted as a master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Lyon 3.

That morning, visit a shared room with Vincent, who officiates for several agencies. “The apartment is very nice, very clean. There are two roommates currently in it”he launches. “It’s cheaper, roommate, then I like this idea of meeting new people and not living alone. I like it”says Lila. “We have already made three visits and it’s quite complicated to have visits and then there are a lot of scams, continues Alexandra. ‘The file was selected. If you want to book it, and be sure to get it, we need a security deposit 48 hours before the visit ‘. “

“You have to position yourself almost during the day, at least position yourself so that the file is sure to be studied and give your response quickly”advises Vincent. A race against the clock confirms Alexia, the manager of the Alexia keys agency. “It’s a bit of madness, I want to say. We rather have a shortage of rental housing. In a quarter of an hour, I receive 60 requests. This is enough for us to find a tenant in the minutes following the publication of the advertisement”, she said.

And in a tense market, the applicant is not in a position of strength. “I saw a file pass where the little girl asked his brother to be guarantor, but the brother was alternating, tells Alexia Gelas d’Angelo. It is true that it is a file that we unfortunately could not validate in relation to three and a half times the amount of the rent “.

Fortunately, in the opinion of these professionals, rents have been supervised since 2024, which avoids, at least with this relationship between supply and completely unbalanced demand, that prices are soaring. You still have to count 500 euros per room in a roommate outside the city center.