This essay aims to compare public‐policy reactions to the property crisis in the 1990s with reactions to the current crisis, based on France as an example. It argues that although this crisis does not have the same origin or the same characteristics as the earlier one, reactions have been similar. The solutions the state has adopted have all prioritized the economic handling of the property crisis over the social handling of the housing crisis. Support for the market and subsidies for private actors in the sector predominate. Current measures are on a continuum with earlier measures: the current period does not seem very conducive to a fundamental review of the instruments and orientations of housing policy. However, one point of difference should be emphasized, namely the political reaction time, which has been much shorter in the early 2000s than it was in the 1990s. Then, it took nearly 5 years before the most important supportive measures were instituted, whereas in 2008 it took only a few months.