Catalonia is studying the pros, cons and viability of a controversial measure to alleviate the residential crisis: restricting the purchase of houses that are acquired as an investment. At the moment it is just that, an idea analyzed by a work group constituted by the Government of Salvador Illa and the Commons, but it has generated expectation. The team has started working this week at the headquarters of the Territory Department and its objective is to have a first report between end of year and beginning of 2026facing the next step: thinking about how to translate it at a legislative level, with proposals that will have to be transferred to Parliament.
“An immediate response must be given,” they claim its drivers.
“Unfair competition”. The idea is to stop (at least in part) the deep imbalance between supply and demand of housing and the residential crisis that the community is experiencing, like other regions of Spain. According to Idealista, only in the last year has Catalonia seen prices increase 7.1% in the rental market and 9.7% in the purchase and sale. Against that backdrop, compounded by the pressure of vacation rentals and seasonal contracts, the community has been the scene of demonstrations in defense of the right to housing.
From Comuns they even talk about the “unfair competition” exercised by investment funds that acquire properties “for cash” (the party remembers that 60% of purchases in Spain are made without a mortgage involved) in search of good returns. The objective of the Government’s working group is to stop this ‘leak’ of apartments to avoid “speculation” and keep them on the market available to families who want to live in them. In short: avoid “speculative purchase”.
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Is it something new? The creation of the working group yes. The idea and the resolution of the Government, no. A few weeks ago Illa already advanced his intention to “in-depth” study the possibility of restricting apartment purchases that are made for speculative purposes, not to be used as housing. Probably the most belligerent formation on the matter, however, is another: the Comuns, which a few weeks ago advertisement his intention to take that same crusade to different administrations in Catalonia, including a proposal in Parliament to limit purchases.
Actually the idea doesn’t come out of nowhere. It is based on a report recent commissioned by the Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan (PEMB) and prepared by the jurist Pablo Feu, expert in administrative and urban law and professor at the University of Barcelona (UB), which addresses precisely that issue: whether or not it is “legally viable” to put limits on those home purchases that are made with an investor mentality, not to convert them into homes and use them as residences.
“It’s viable”. The document is interesting above all for two reasons. To begin with, because its author concludes that the veto of this type of purchases may have legal protection. The second, because it makes it clear that a series of conditions related to the context must first be met. “The report concludes that it is feasible to restrict the acquisition of real estate for speculative use, a practice that, according to the recent jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, can be limited in the face of ‘the exceptional situation of loss of the right of access to housing by the majority of the population,'” the PEMB states in its release about the study.
But what does the report say? That like the limitation of rental prices, the veto must respect certain conditions: it would apply only in Stressed Residential Market Areas (ZMRT), provided for in the Right to Housing Law of 2023 and where it would only be allowed to acquire housing for “habitual and permanent use” of the buyer himself, which reduces any investment approach. “The objective is to stop speculative operations that contribute to emptying urban centers and raising prices above the purchasing power of the population,” they reflect from the Pla Estratègic.
The small print. The report also talks about certain “exceptions”, a fine print that seeks to ensure the “balance and proportionality” of the ban. For example, it contemplates that entire buildings can be acquired as long as their apartments are rented as “regular rentals” for a certain period of time, keeping them out of the vacation market or seasonal rentals. How long would that limitation last? The PEMB speaks of between five or seven years, depending on whether an individual or a company purchases.
The purchase of second homes outside the town where the owner resides would also be allowed, even in areas considered “stressed”, but the operation would be conditioned on a crucial requirement: that the house or apartment be dedicated to personal use, not to rental or investment. The Newspaper assures There is another exception related to those who buy for close relatives.
And the legal reserve? The report released by PEMB is just that, a report, a theoretical document presented just before the Government and Commons working group is formed, but it contains a few interesting ideas. The study focuses on the “stressed market” areas and in Catalonia (at least that was the case a year ago) there are some 271 municipalities with that consideration. A significant number of locations that would cover almost 90% of the population.
The other reason is that its author insists on the legal fit of the proposals. “Public administrations can intervene in the real estate market. It is a possible measure because it has justified cause and because it is delimited in space and time,” Feu claims. The study in fact ensures that the measure could be transferred to both the regional and state and local levels, “taking advantage of the powers that already exist in terms of housing and urban planning.”
Regarding the international scene, the entity assures that there are no doubts about its fit into community legislation. “Countries such as Denmark, Croatia, Finland and Malta have already implemented similar measures,” added from the PEMB.
Images | Florian Schmid (Unsplash) and Arturo Martínez (Unsplash)
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