The vice-president of the National Chamber of Real Estate Developers, Jalel Mziou, spoke on Thursday October 23, 2025, on Express FM, at the microphone of Oussama Souiai in the program Echerâa Ettounsiregarding the presidential initiative aimed at reintroducing the mechanism for renting social housing with an option to purchase by the tenant, known as the lease-purchase formula.
This program, launched at the initiative of the Presidency of the Republic, provides that the National Real Estate Company of Tunisia (Snit) can sell social housing and that the Social Housing Promotion Company (Sprols) sells housing to employees, either via direct sale with payment facilities, or through rental with option to purchase.
While he welcomes the intention to facilitate access to housing, Jalel Mziou warns of the lack of clarity of the system, the financial uncertainties and the absence of consultation with professionals in the sector.
« The approach is good in itself, we welcomed it as a general orientation “, he said. But, according to him, no details have been communicated on the concrete implementation of the program: “ We don’t know how it will be implemented, or where the funding will come from. At this stage, everything remains very unclear ».
The vice-president of the Chamber is also surprised that the two public companies concerned – Snit and Sprols – are not fully integrated into the design of the project.
« These two institutions should be at the heart of the mechanism, but they seem to be excluded. »
For Mziou, the public sector cannot, on its own, meet national demand for housing.
« Snit builds barely 400 housing units per year. How could it absorb such an operation when the demand is in the tens of thousands? “, he asked.
He pleads for an effective association of the private sector, emphasizing that the 3,000 approved promoters in Tunisia have the necessary capacities:
« What Snit and Sprols can do in twenty years, we can achieve in five if efforts are joint. »
Another area of concern: financing. According to Mziou, the system could mobilize resources from the Housing Promotion Fund for Employees (Foprolos), which would present a serious risk.
« These are the contributions of all Tunisian employees. If we commit these funds to a poorly studied system, it is Foprolos which will be weakened “, he warned.
He fears that in the absence of a rigorous economic framework, the project could turn into an unsustainable budgetary burden, particularly in the event of payment defaults on the part of the beneficiaries.
Jalel Mziou recalls that the National Chamber of Real Estate Developers had already presented a “housing for all Tunisians” plan, based on a fixed interest rate of 3% and a repayment period of up to forty years.
« We carried out a complete study, validated by a design office, and submitted to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Equipment and the Central Bank. It would make it possible to finance between 4,000 and 8,000 housing units per year, without compromising public funds. “, he said.
He regrets that this project, economically viable and socially targeted, was not taken into account in favor of an initiative considered too improvised.
Mziou also warns that the rent-to-own formula carries risks of non-payment and legal gray areas.
« If the tenant stops paying after a few years, what will happen? Will the State recover the housing? Nothing is clear at the moment “, he stressed.
He suggests segmenting the system according to social categories:
« For the middle classes, a fixed rate of 3% would be acceptable. For the most modest, we can consider a rate of 0%. But we need a global and differentiated approach, not a single measure. »
Finally, the Vice-President of the Chamber deplores the total lack of consultation with real estate professionals: “ We asked to be involved in the design of the program before its launch, but received no feedback. »
He calls for collaboration between the State, the private sector and financial organizations to avoid the failure of a measure that is nevertheless promising.
« Each building employs more than 300 trades. Supporting construction means supporting the entire national economy “, he concluded.
The presidential rental with option to purchase initiative, supposed to facilitate access to social housing, arouses skepticism and concern among real estate developers. Vagueness on the mechanisms, weakness of public resources, lack of consultation and financial risks: for Jalel Mziou, a good idea risks coming to an end without structural reform and a global vision of the housing market.
Ultimately, Jalel Mziou believes that the success of the program will depend on the State’s capacity to open the housing project to a real public-private partnership, and not to rely solely on public institutions with limited resources.
I.N.
