France: We need more home owners!

“We have a shortage of housing in France, and we don’t have enough owners,” Sarkozy said. “As long as prices rise faster than salaries, we won’t catch up.” ------------------------------------------ French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he’ll move to repeal the tax deductibility of mortgage- interest payments he introduced in 2007 and replace it with more zero-rate loans for buyers to promote home... [more]

“We have a shortage of housing in France, and we don’t have enough owners,” Sarkozy said. “As long as prices rise faster than salaries, we won’t catch up.” ------------------------------------------ French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he’ll move to repeal the tax deductibility of mortgage- interest payments he introduced in 2007 and replace it with more zero-rate loans for buyers to promote home ownership. The government will increase funds available to subsidized banks’ zero-interest real-estate loans to 2.6 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from 1.2 billion, he said today in the Paris suburb of Thiais after visiting a construction site. Sarkozy said he aimed to push the percentage of French who own their houses from 57 percent toward the European average of 66 percent. The tax changes will be included in the government’s 2011 budget. He said the deductibility of interest payments failed because banks weren’t taking lower tax bills into account when deciding on granting mortgages. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-14/sarkozy-to-drop-mortgage-interest-tax-deductions-push-zero-interest-loans.html [less]