Following DPE reforms, 400,000 homes leave categories F and G, allocated to energy filters, by 2025

Energy performance diagnostics (DPE) provide grades from A, for the most efficient housing, to G, for the most energy-intensive housing.

The number of homes considered energy filters has decreased. According to government statistics published on Thursday, November 13, the number reached 5.4 million on January 1, or 400,000 fewer than the previous year, mainly due to energy performance diagnosis (DPE) reforms. These highly energy-intensive housing units, classified F or G in the DPE, represent 14.4% of the total housing stock in France. DPE provides grades from A, for the most efficient housing, to G, for the most energy-intensive housing.

Among primary residences, 12.7% are energy drains, or 3.9 million homes. The majority (2.5 million) were owner-occupied homes, while within the private rental stock, 13.8% of homes were energy storage, or 1.1 million homes.

In the private rental stock, as of January 1 2025, there were still 453,000 housing units classified G, while from the same date, the law requires that all rental housing be at least classified F, otherwise the owner will be obliged to carry out work.

The data and statistical studies service (SDES) of the Ministry of Ecological Transition estimates that the change in the DPE calculation threshold for small areas, announced in February 2024, had the effect of excluding 160,000 apartments from the energy filter category, which corresponds to “38% of estimated energy filter reduction” year-round between primary residences. Meanwhile, the new modified DPE, which this time concerns the electricity conversion coefficient (which is used to calculate the actual energy consumed), must emerge from the energy filter status. “approximately 700,000 primary residences”.

“Energy filters in the private rental sector are owned by elderly owners with mediocre incomes,” the study further notes: 17.7% of housing in private rental stock owned by owners over 80 years old is filter housing.

Beyond DPE modification, “interpretation of the decreasing trend in the number of energy filters is still complicated”, according to SDES, thereforee “may reflect a marked improvement in the energy performance of the park (…), but also a possible behavioral effect on both the diagnostician and the owner”.