Spain: a solution to the housing emergency?
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced an action plan to tackle the country's escalating housing shortage. Empty flats are to be converted into affordable rental flats with the help of subsidies and tax breaks and 3,300 public flats are to be built as an initial measure. In addition, there will be new restrictions on holiday flats and property ownership by non-EU citizens.
At least the real problems have been recognised
El Periódico de España is cautiously optimistic:
“The average price per square metre for new builds in Spain has exceeded 3,000 euros for the first time, having risen by 5.5 percent in 2024 and by 52 percent since the low point after the property bubble in 2008. ... The government wants to increase the public housing stock, a long-term solution that doesn't address the current problem. And the [conservative] PP wants more building land and lower taxes on property transactions, measures that make experts suspicious because they were what caused the last bubble. But at least Sánchez and Feijóo are looking for solutions to people's real problems, if only to win the battle of narratives.”
Too little for too many
Spain needs more than vague announcements, Eldiario.es demands:
“Gaining access to decent housing has become a pipedream for tens of thousands of citizens. The years go by, the politicians look the other way, the jungle of speculation grows denser.... At least there is talk now of intervention in the market, but only a little. ... There is no real plan to increase European countries' stock of social and affordable housing. ... If this were achieved, the overall value of Spanish real estate would drop by 30 percent. That would be the end of the Spanish dream for many foreign speculators, and neither of the two major parties will allow that. And while they fob us off with vague announcements, a large part of society continues to suffer.”
A good start but time is of the essence
El País piles on the pressure:
“The housing problem in Spain is so serious that there is a risk of sticking with proposals that in the best case are merely euphemistic and at worst are reminiscent of those that fuelled the property bubble [in 2008]. The government's proposals, which are more adjusted to the reality of market developments in 2025, could be effective in five years' time. The measures that can have an immediate impact must be accelerated, because Spain needs solutions that also work in the short term, an ambitious response that is commensurate to the challenge it faces. But all in all, this tentative attempt to do politics with diverse proposals instead of the usual cacophony is to be welcomed.”
Taxing non-EU residents ineffective
Sánchez's plan to impose a tax of up to 100 percent on property purchases by non-EU residents is a bad idea, says The Spectator:
“An estimated 27,000 Spanish properties were bought by non-EU residents last year, with the British retirement crowd only a small proportion of that. For a country with a total population of 48 million that is a tiny percentage. Most of them are located in a handful of cities. To pretend driving them out will make any difference to the average Spaniard is just ridiculous. ... The real housing problem in Spain is that it does not build enough, and it has too many low-skilled immigrants. Closing the country to wealthy expats might win a few votes – but it is not going to address the real problem.”