homes

is losing homes and gaining Airbnb apartments

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There are many shows held around the world, but few can boast the levels of popularity of the FIFA World Cup, which will be held this summer in North America. Nor to drag so many followers. In January the organization revealed that in just 33 days it had received more than 500 million of ticket requests for the sales phase of the random draw. If FIFA’s calculations are correct, more than six million of people will attend the tournament stadiums, leaving an average of 450,000 visitors in each host city. Such an avalanche of tourists is already being noticed in the housing market of Mexico City (CDMX), one of the cities involved. What has happened? That the CDMX residential market is strongly feeling the effects of the 2026 World Cup, which will be held this summer in Canada, the United States and Mexico. At least that’s what he claims Urban Memorial Projecta citizen platform that has set out to document the effects of gentrification, tourism and real estate pressure in the Mexican capital. A few days ago the organization launched a statement in which he warns that, on the eve of the competition, CMDX is suffering a flight of homes that are leaving the residential market to be offered in the tourist market, much more profitable. What does the data say? The figures come from Inside Airbnb and they are eloquent. According to your recordsin a matter of six months (December 2024-June 2025) Airbnb gained 770 “new accommodation spaces” in the Mexican capital. “On average, three apartments or entire houses were stolen from the residential rental market every two days during the first half of 2025 to be allocated to tourists through Airbnb,” underlines Urban Memorial. The organization recalls that, according to the latest update from Inside Airbnb, at the end of June 2025 CDMX had 27.51 active accommodations. Why is it important? Because the group appreciates “an acceleration in the conversion of housing from residential use to temporary accommodation” and warns that this transfer also occurs in “a critical moment” for the capital, in the midst of a residential crisis and on the eve of the World Cup. Added to these factors is that a good part of Airbnb’s offer corresponds to complete homes (17,713), the number of which far exceeds that of private rooms (8,995). The study also warns that this is the ‘photograph’ from a few months ago. “Surely it is growing at an even faster rate as we get closer to the World Cup,” remember the platform before specifying that Airbnb’s offer is not distributed evenly throughout the metropolis. 81% are concentrated in the four most central districts with the best services, with Cuahtémoc at the head. There alone, the “undisputed epicenter of the business”, there are more than 12,500 accommodations, 46% of the entire city. Are they denouncing anything else? Yes. The platform remember that although the Tourism Law (renovated in 2023) clarifies that accommodations advertised on websites such as Airbnb cannot be rented for more than 180 nights each year, this guideline is “generally violated.” To be more precise, after studying the data from Inside Airbnb, the organization found that there were 7,532 properties (about 30% of the total) that had already exceeded the limit of available nights. Who includes the standard? Especially large owners, according to Memorial. Is it the only warning sign? No. A few months ago the newspaper Reform he wondered how the World Cup was affecting the rentals of homes and commercial premises in CDMX, Guadalajara and Monterrey, venues of the tournament. His conclusion was striking: he estimated that rents in total would become more expensive between 25 and 40%. Already in December Julio César Mendoza, manager of the Inmuebles24 platform, slid the possibility that prices would rise, especially in the venues closest to the stadiums where the matches will be played, focusing on “flexible or temporary contracts” signed for the World Cup season. Does only the World Cup influence? No. Of course, not all of the increase is solely attributable to the FIFA Cup. The Spot2.mx platform remember that at least in the specific case of CDMX, the increase in the cost of commercial spaces is already coming from behind and is related to the gentrification of certain areas of the capital. In fact, there are studies that ensure that rents in the residential market they have shot up 45% between 2020 and 2025, displacing the population to the periphery. In his case the World Cup would act more as an accelerant. The truth is that there are landlords who started months ago to remodel their commercial spaces to attract brands during the months of June and July. Some Mexican media they also talk of landlords who have stopped renewing rental contracts precisely coinciding with the proximity of the World Cup. Does it only affect houses and commercial premises? No. Although recently the hoteliers of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey they assured Since the anticipated occupancy level in its accommodation is low (30%), the sector expects demand to grow as the match dates approach. In fact, they predict that during key days occupancy will skyrocket to around 80 or 90%with rates 100, 150 or 300% higher than normal in key areas. The hotels near the stadiums hope to sell out. Images | Wikipedia and Zion Arellano (Unsplash) In Xataka | Mexico has been preparing for some time to host the World Cup. He had everything except the death of his great drug dealer

The owner of Mercadona believes that in a few years kitchens will disappear from homes. The consumption of precooked foods proves him right

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The forecast sounded so far-fetched, it clashed to such an extent with the gastronomic tradition of Spain, that it generated a considerable stir. Just a year ago, during the presentation of Mercadona’s accounts, Juan Roig surprised by predicting death (almost) imminent of domestic kitchens. “I said it and I maintain it: in the middle of the 21st century there will be no kitchens,” cried the businessman. In the future imagined by Roig we go from making our own food in the vitro at home to taking it already prepared from supermarkets, which have become an absolute reference for food. The sector data They confirm that, no matter how dystopian Roig’s prophecy sounds, it seems to be coming true. A percentage: 3.8%. Spain is a benchmark for the Mediterranean diet. But also, and increasingly, a country of families who are no longer willing to spend hours and hours in the kitchen. That’s what it suggests at least. the last balance of the Spanish Association of Prepared Meal Manufacturers (Asefapre). According to the data of the sector, in 2025, ready-made foods “reinforced their weight in the shopping basket”, with an increase in consumption of 3.8%. In total, 715,052 tons of prepared meals were sold, “a new record,” recalls Asefapre, which consolidates the trend of the last decade. Translated into hard and fast euros, sales rose to 4,309 million, with an annual increase of 5%. A figure: 18 kilos a year. To give us an idea of ​​what this growth means, Asefapre calculates that last year each Spaniard ate on average about 18 kilos of prepared dishes. As a reference it is almost the same amount of fish products that we Spaniards consume in our homes (another thing is the restaurants) throughout 2024. The difference between precooked and fish is that the demand for the latter takes time to increase. low hours (both fresh and frozen) while the former grows at a good pace. The latest balance sheet of the employers’ association reflects an annual increase of 4.7% in the consumption of prepared foods, a growth rate that comfortably exceeds that of food as a whole (0.6%). What do we eat? Asefapre segregate your data of sales, which offers us an interesting vision of what exactly we Spaniards consume. The cake goes to “refrigerated” products, with a sales volume of 330,602 t shipped in 2025, 5% more than the previous year. In second place are “frozen products”, with sales that amounted to 297,023 t (+2.5%). The “dishes prepared at room temperature”, very common in some supermarket chains, are quite far behind, with 87,426 tons sold, but they leave an interesting fact: their demand grew by 4.1%. From pizza to potatoes and pasta. If we go down to detail we see that what we Spaniards like most (at least it is what we demand most) are pizzas, the leading producer in the sector with a sales volume that amounted to 131,600 tons. They are followed by frozen potatoes, with 98,056 t, and pasta-based dishes, which totaled 72,405 t. The three categories grew, with sales increases ranging between 2.6 and 7.2%. Beyond the Spanish market, one fifth (21.4%) of the industry’s production ends up being exported. More than just strategy. At this point the question is obvious: Why do we buy more and more pre-cooked foods? What leads us to feed ourselves with prepared dishes, whether frozen, refrigerated or food sold at room temperature ready for consumption, like what Mercadona offers in its supermarkets? The answer is complex. On the one hand there is the sector’s strategy, which has increased and perfected its range of products, adding foreign dishes that aim in part at the growing population immigrant living in Spain. Beyond the efforts of the industry, the increase in consumption of prepared dishes also responds to profound changes at a social and cultural level. They increase the single-person householdsit gets complicated conciliation between professional and family life and even change the kitchen structure in the houses. Also our way of thinking, as Asefapre herself remembers: today it no longer ‘squeaks’ at us that they serve us a pre-cooked dish on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve or that in families there are no longer people willing to lock themselves between the stoves. Of new grandmothers and homes. “Grandmas are not like they used to be and prefer to go walking with friends, do pilates or travel,” he reflected during the presentation of the balance sheet the president of Asefapre, David Aldea. It is not the only cultural change he cited. Added to this are others, such as the fact that it is increasingly easier to find “homes with fewer members” or homes in which the space dedicated to cooking has been reduced to a minimum. The trend seems to confirm Roig’s prediction, which a year ago I already confirmed the good progress of Mercadona’s business line for ready-to-eat dishes, launched in 2018. “It is profitable and continues to grow.” Images | Andalusian Government (Flickr), Mercadona and Asefapre In Xataka | Mercadona has grown so much in Spain that for the US it is no longer just a supermarket chain: it is a “cultural phenomenon”

China needed space to power millions of homes, so it built a mega solar plant in the open sea

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That China is building power plants As if there were no secret, it is not a secret. Without going any further, in the last four years it has been able to replicate the power of the United States, the largest electrical grid in the West. And a good part of the blame solar energy has it. In fact, in 2023 it installed more solar panels than the United States in all of history, as reported by Bloomberg. Solar energy requires space, so China is finding the most varied gaps, from the tibetan plateau to the open sea, where from the end of 2025 It is already connected to the electrical network a mega solar plant that breaks records. In China there are solar panels even in the soup. The largest offshore solar plant in the world. We are talking about the solar plant located off the coast of Kenli district in Dongying city, Shandong province. This engineering project is carried out by China Energy Investment Corporation (CHN Energy) and has a nominal capacity of 1 GW. As explains People’s Dailythe official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is China’s first gigawatt-level offshore photovoltaic project and currently the largest offshore solar installation in the world. This is what the Shandong plant looks like. Via: People’s Daily The context: why at sea. Because land space near its large coastal cities is a precious commodity. The Chinese government has a policy of red line to safeguard land used for agriculture and solve the line “Hu Huanyong Line“: while its great solar and wind potential is concentrated in the west, in the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia, the megacities and their most powerful industrial fabric are in the east. China is already developing parks of renewables in their deserts, but running Ultra High Voltage lines is very expensive, involves losses along the way and crosses complicated orography. The logical but technically infernal solution is to jump into the water. Until now, floating solar energy was limited to calm waters, such as what Germany is doing with its lakesbut China is another story. The open sea brings salt corrosion, typhoons and waves. Why is it important. Because China’s coastal provinces such as Shandong or Jiangsu constitute large centers of industrial consumption. Generating energy right there avoids those transportation losses of thousands of kilometers from the Gobi desert. If it works within the expected design parameters and the maintenance costs are affordable, it will be a good boost to take advantage of the coasts within the energy transition process from fossil to renewables. The panels are simply colossal. Via: X from People’s Daily A prodigious work of engineering. We are talking about an area of ​​more than 1,200 hectares where 2,934 enormous marine photovoltaic panels are located with standardized dimensions of 60 meters long and 35 meters wide. And they are not drifting panels: it is a large infrastructure designed to withstand extreme conditions ranging from storms to freezing water. In addition, it is hybridized: under the panels the project integrates fish farms, that is, producing electricity above and fish below. This type of combination is not new, as in Guizhou province there is a giant solar plant in whose basement mushrooms are grown. Shandong is aquavoltaic and Guizhou is agrivoltaic. Some numbers that make you dizzy. This installed power of 1 Gigawatt is similar to that of a modern nuclear reactor, so that according to estimates, it will be capable of producing 1,780 million kWh of energy that will be fed into the grid each year and thus supply 2.6 million homes in the region. approximately 60% of your demand. According to the estimates of the engineering company behind it, 1.3 million tons of carbon dioxide will no longer be emitted. In Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels In Xataka | The great myth of solar panels: producing them emits hundreds of times less than coal and gas Cover | People’s Daily

Madrid needs to build thousands of homes as soon as possible. So you are already testing prefabricated wooden modules

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A while ago (not so long ago) “prefabrication” and “wood” were words that took a back seat in the jargon of large construction companies. The prefabricated houses carried certain negative nuance and the wood sounded like a past material, more typical of other times than the era of concrete, steel and glass. Little by little that is changing and Madrid is the best example: as part of its policy to create affordable accommodation, the City Council has just inaugurated its first promotion built “in wood with prefabricated 3D modules.” And he already warns that he will not stay there. What has happened? That the Madrid City Council just opened a new promotion of affordable rental municipal housing. Fifty two- and three-bedroom apartments with storage rooms and 78 parking spaces. Until then, nothing out of this world. If the news is interesting it is because this work is not the same as others of the Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS). in words of the Consistory, it is “the first public housing development in Madrid built in wood with prefabricated 3D modules.” What exactly have they done? The work in question is called ‘Iberia Loreto 1’is located in the district of Barajas and has been carried out with an investment of 14.6 million euros. In total it includes 52 homes (16 with two bedrooms and the remaining 36 with three), as well as 78 parking spaces. Overall, the promotion is distributed in two blocks separated by a green area. The work stands out, however, more for its execution than for what it offers. Those responsible have resorted to “industrialized wood construction”; That is, they have used wooden modules previously created in a factory. Why is it important? Because with this bet, Madrid joins other developers who (inside and outside Spain, both in the public sphere and in the private sector) have been betting in recent years on that same strategy: industrialized construction. Australia has done itfor example, to shortcut your serious crisis of housing, and the model is also viewed with interest in Portugal either USA. In other countries, such as Japan, it is already fully settled. In Spain, data from the sector suggest that industrialized housing still has a reduced weightbut companies note a growing interest. In the Basque Country it is seen as a way to reinforce the offer and recently we told you how in Zaragoza they have raised a new hotel with prefabricated modules. Why’s that? Due to its advantages, something that is responsible for highlighting the Madrid City Council. The City Council recalls that Iberia Loreto 1 has been completed in less than a year and a half. 17 months have passed between the laying of the first stone and the completion of the work. In general, speed is one of the great assets of the industrialized modelwhich consists of manufacturing modules (more or less assembled) in a warehouse that are then moved to the construction site. It may seem like an unimportant change, but it implies that part of the work is done in the factories, not on the site itself, which helps to speed up the works, cut times and even reduce workplace accidents. At the end of the day, workers go from scaffolding to factories. “It does not eliminate occupational risks, but it does allow us to reduce them without giving up technical quality or architectural design,” they claim from The Concrete House. And what will Madrid do now? The Iberia Loreto 1 experience seems to have been good enough for the City Council to consider taking it further and continuing to support it. “After its success, the municipal company is going to take a decisive leap by promoting the construction of 800 homes developed with this system,” advance from the EMVS before insisting that the city “will continue to advance industrialized public construction.” “It allows us to shorten deadlines, reduce the environmental impact and offer more efficient homes.” How much do you want to build? Its objective is to raise more than 760 new industrialized public housing. 170 will be built in the districts of Barajas, Moncloa-Aravaca and Villa de Vallecas. The remaining ones will be deployed in Vilcálvaro (Los Ahijones and Los Berrocales) within the framework of the Suma Vivienda Plan, so they will be developed through a public-private collaboration formula. In total the Consistory assures that in 2026 work will begin on 2,500 new homes for affordable rental through EMVS. To be precise, it talks about 22 new developments in various districts of the capital and remembers the nearly 1,600 apartments in the first phase of the EMVS Suma Vivienda Plan. Images | Madrid City Council and Municipal Housing and Land Company In Xataka | The Government wants to put 1,600 public and affordable homes for rent. Rental Insurance wants to keep them

The Government is looking for someone to manage thousands of affordable homes. An unexpected candidate has emerged: Rental Insurance

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The State already has a ‘girlfriend’ for its affordable rental housing. Barely a month and a half after the SEPES put out to tender a contract to find companies interested in managing its public park of rental apartments, a large pool of 17,300 propertiesthe Ministry of Housing already knows of at least one interested firm. Of course, one that perhaps Isabel Rodríguez’s department did not have: Seguro Rent, the same company that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs wants to impose a fine of 3.6 million for violation of rights. Those responsible for the company they advance that they have all the requirements included in the tender and boast of their “experience and training.” Manager wanted. To understand the case we must go back to December 1, when the SEPES (shortly after converted into HOUSE47) launched a tender which probably whetted the appetite of more than one real estate agency. The contract in question amounted to a total of 55.4 million of euros (not including VAT) and was basically looking for companies interested in assuming for two years the “comprehensive management of the leasing of the public housing stock for affordable rentals.” In total, the tender covers 17,324 homes spread throughout the country, although to facilitate contracting it was divided into lots. Specifically, four were created for different regions, with between 1,600 and 5,700 houses. A name: Rental Insurance. The announcement was posted on the Public Sector Procurement Platform and companies had just over a month, until January 8, to present their offers. At the moment at least the name of one is known: Rental Insurancea firm dedicated to leasing management that boasts of having managed more than 75,000 contracts. Specifically, the company aspires to become with one of the four lots tendered by the State, the first, which covers 1,661 homes located in Galicia and Asturias. In exchange for its management, SEPES (now CASA47) offers about 6.5 million. The company of course defends its resume to win the contract. “Alquiler Seguro has the experience and training required to take charge of the comprehensive management of the rental fleet, as it has been doing for more than 19 years with the more than 28,000 contracts it currently manages throughout the country,” has claimed the signature itself on a note. Bragging about history. The company does not stop there. In addition to highlighting his experience managing house rentals (including public protection), he remembers the agreements and collaborations he has had with firms such as YourTECHÔ and First Hfocused on access to housing for vulnerable people. On its website the agency presume also from its office network, with more than 50 points spread throughout the country, and its portfolio of tens of thousands of properties. Why is it news? Because Rental Insurance not only stands out for its greater or lesser experience. Beyond the criticism that you have received from entities such as the Madrid Tenants Union, the OCU either FACUAthe company it was news recently for a proposed million-dollar fine. In December, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs imposed a fine of around 3.6 million euros on it for violating user rights and taking advantage of its position of strength in the market. At least in December, when the news brokethe resolution was not yet final and the company was advancing its intention to appeal. During the investigation he had already presented more than a dozen allegations. Questionable practices. In the file, advanced by Cadena SERdetailed practices that were at least controversial, such as forcing tenants to take out insurance, being responsible for charges for non-payments or claims or paying for a ‘Tenant Service Service’. Not only that. The file also details the obligation for the tenant to accept being included in a file of defaulters. Your practices already FACUA denounced them at the end of 2023. When SEPES launched its tender insisted in the profile of the company that is seeking to run the public affordable rental park: “Management will be carried out from social commitment and not only based on economic criteria. For this reason, one of the services that the successful bidder must provide consists of the prevention, detection and early attention of situations of risk of loss of housing.” Images | The Moncloa, Rental Insurance and FACUA In Xataka | The Great Rental Review is not going to be a joke for millions of Spaniards: more than 4,000 euros more per year

overcrowded homes have skyrocketed

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In full housing crisis and with the registry growing thanks basically to immigration pushSpain has encountered a problem: it has more and more overcrowded homessomething that is usually considered an indicator of poverty and that basically tells us about housing “overcrowded”. The Eurostat data show that the Spanish ratio is still far from that of the EU or neighboring countries such as Italy, Germany or France, but even so the trend is revealing. Overcrowded homes? Correct. EITHER “overcrowded”another way to identify them. Basically both labels refer to the same thing: homes in which so many people live that their inhabitants exceed the capacity for which they were ideally designed, at least for comfortable coexistence. Said like this it may sound abstract, but both the INE as Eurostat They use some agreed criteria to recognize them. An “overcrowded home” is one that does not have a room per couple, for each tenant over 18 years of age or for each two young people of the same sex between 12 and 17 years old. There are more guidelines but they all point in the same direction. Thanks to them, technicians can then calculate their impact on society as a whole, the “overcrowding rate”. Year Spain France Portugal Italy Germany EU 2010 5 9.2 14.6 24.3 7.1 19.1 2015 5.5 7.4 10.3 27.8 7 18.1 2020 7.6 9.6 9 26.1 10.2 17.4 2024 9.1 10.4 11.2 23.9 11.5 16.9 And what do the statistics say? That in Spain this rate (the percentage of the population that lives in overcrowded homes) has not stopped growing in recent years. In fact the data from Eurostat show that in 2024 the indicator reached its highest level since 2004. If in 2010 the Spanish overcrowding rate was 5%, in 2020 it had risen to 7.6% and last year it stood at 9.1%. It may not seem like a high figure, but as remember The Confidential It is equivalent to millions of people (4.4) living in saturated environments. Why is it important data? More than because of the data itself (which is not especially high), because of the trend. Spain is far from being one of the European countries with the most overcrowded homes. The rate is considerably higher in Italy (23.9%), Germany (11.5%), Portugal (11.2%) or France (10.4%). Even the average of the 27 EU countries (16.9%) clearly exceeds the Spanish figure; but our country does stands out for its evolution recent. And not for the better. Between 2009 and 2024 the Spanish overcrowding rate increased by 75%, while in the EU as a whole and many other surrounding nations this same indicator decreased. What’s more, if we take into account the set of countries analyzed by Eurostat there is only one that has experienced an increase in the overcrowding rate greater than Spain: Netherlands, where it went from 1.7% to 4.6%. The palm in terms of volume goes to the Baltic countries. Eurostat map with data from 2023. Can it go further? Yes. Eurostat allows us to go further and that reveals to us that the rate of overcrowding does not affect the entire population equally nor does it have the same footprint throughout the country. As precise The Confidentialits incidence seems higher among those who live in rented houses (at market rents) than among those who live in their own homes, whether with or without a mortgage. If we go down to detail we also see that it is easier to find foreigners (especially non-EU) living in overcrowded homes than people born in Spain and who, therefore, have a family support network. Among the latter (Spanish) the worst part goes to the young people. A few months ago Foessa Foundation I already warned in a report on “households that are forced to share apartments with more people, return to parents’ or relatives’ homes to live with them, resort to so-called ‘nano apartments’ or that are unable to look for another home when the family increases.” According to their data, 3.4 million people (7%) live in “crowded conditions.” What are the causes? That the footprint of overcrowded homes has increased in Spain responds to several factors, but it is undeniable that the phenomenon has coincided above all with two clear trends. The first is the gradual increase in price of the home. According to the Idealista portal, on average rents have increased by 10.9% in the last year, which places the residential square meter (m2) at the highest values ​​since at least 2006. If we talk about the purchase and sale market, photography It’s not very different. This translates into stressed markets, fast pace and in which access is complicated to housing, especially among young people. In fact, for many, the only way to achieve home ownership is through a paternal donation. And the other factor? Population growth. At the end of the first half of 2025, 49.3 million people lived in our country, “the maximum value in the historical series,” as recognizes the INEwhich also remembers that this increase has a clearly identified demographic driver: immigration. The INE data does not leave room for many doubts. The number of people born in Spain has decreased, so the increase was mainly based on residents arriving from abroad. A revealing case is that of the Community of Madrid, which at the end of 2024 reached a historical milestone: surpassed one million people born in Hispanic America. 25 years ago there were not even 82,000. Is it the only reality? No. Paradoxical as it may be, in recent years not only has the rate of overcrowded homes grown. Those on the opposite pole have also done so: single-person householdspeople who live alone. This is clearly reflected in the Continuous Population Statistics published in July by the INE, which shows that in our country there are 5.54 million homes in which only one person resides. The data is already close to that of the most common household format, those made up of two people. Today they still remain … Read more

In 2007, 20% of homes were bought by young Spaniards. Now that gap is being filled by another group: foreigners

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With the skyrocketing priceshe decoupling between supply and demand in cities and a market increasingly inaccessiblethe notaries of Spain have found themselves with a curious fact (not unexpected) when reviewing the home buying and selling data. Operations led by young people have collapsed in recent decades. If in 2007 they represented 22.5% of the total, now they do not reach 10%. Of course, all groups have followed the same dynamic. The statistics Notaries show that there is another group of buyers that has experienced a diametrically opposite trend: foreigners. What has happened? That the General Council of Notaries (CGN) has launched a new tool on-line which helps us better understand the Spanish real estate market. Above all to study key aspects such as the evolution of prices, the pace of purchases and sales or the amount of operations, offering an alternative vision to that of portals such as Idealista. If something has attracted attention During its presentation, however, another indicator was: the weight of young people in the real estate market. Or rather, how it has been receding little by little. What does the data say? The conclusion of the notaries is quite clear. If we look back and analyze the last two decades, we see that “the presence of young people in the market has been drastically reduced.” In 2007, the younger population (those between 18 and 30 years old) was behind 22.53% of sales. Today that percentage has been reduced to 9.55%. In fact, the statistical portal shows that they are one of the groups with the smallest footprint on the market, only behind the group that is already over 70 years old. In general the latest data Updated CGN data show that those under 31 years of age have represented 9.35% of buyers over the last year, far from the 25.7% of the 31-40 age group or 26.89% of the 41-50 age group. For more than a decade, in fact, the average age of those who buy has been around 50 years old. It’s not surprising at all. Other studies have been pointing out for some time the difficulties with which young people encounter to access the real estate market (only a part manages to buy or rent) and above all its gradual weight loss. Do they show anything else? Yes. Young Spaniards may play a much more discreet role in the sector today than just a few years ago, but there is another group that has grown. So much in fact that has covered the gap left by those less than 30 years old. CGN data show that operations carried out by foreigners have skyrocketed in the last two decades: from representing 7.5% of the total in 2007, they have risen to 20.1%. The Vanguard specifies that the increase has been especially pronounced in the case of non-residents, who would be purchasing of the order of 50,000-60,000 properties per year. He statistical portal of notaries allows us to go a few steps further and get a more approximate idea of ​​which foreign citizens are interested in the Spanish real estate market. According to their updated data, the British represent 8.7%, the Moroccans 7.7% and the Italians are close to 7%. They are followed on the list by Germans (6.9%) and Romanians (6.4%). It is interesting that in some of these groups, such as the British, the percentage of non-resident buyers is higher than those who do have their habitual residence in Spanish territory. When comparing the evolution of foreign buyers and young people (between 18 and 31 years old), the data must however be handled with some caution, since the General Council of Notaries does not clarify to what extent they overlap. And what about the prices? In recent years the real estate market has been marked by another phenomenon as or even more relevant: rising prices. The data of Idealistic show that, in Spain, on average, the square meter of residential use cost 1,522 euros in September 2015. It now stands at 2,517. The data does not exactly match the calculated by the notaries, but it still gives an idea of ​​the increase in housing prices. The group estimates that last year the sector recorded a variation rate price increases of 7.12%, one of the highest in the last decade. In fact, it was only surpassed in 2022, when the figure was 7.23%. “From January to August 2025, apartment prices in Spain (new and second-hand housing) have increased by 8% compared to 2024. This situation is worsened in the country’s capital, with Madrid registering a price increase of 15.2%. In Barcelona the increase reaches 9.23%,” concludes the CGN. The director of the Technological Center of Notaries, Alberto Martínez Lacambra, admits In fact, the rise in housing prices “is beginning to be worrying.” And beyond prices? The weight loss of young people is explained by several factors. Although the increase in the price of residential m2 is a key factor, there is an added difficulty in saving (costs rise in the purchase and sale market, but also in the rental market) and accessing credit or deep imbalance between demand and supply that the most saturated markets suffer from. The situation is so complex and young people have it so difficult that in fact notaries have found another revealing surprise: they are increasingly most common donations of housing (or cash for purchases) between parents and children. Regarding the increase in foreign buyers, the trend coincides with another undeniable reality. One that goes beyond the effect of extinct ‘golden visa’: he general increase of the foreign population, which has helped Spain increase its GDP and strengthening of the registry, a reality recognized by the INE itself. In recent years, the country has also gained appeal as a vacation destination, to the point that it threatens to become with more visitors of the planet. Images | Emil Gabrovski (Unsplash) and Roberto Tjalondo (Unsplash) In Xataka | A 40m2 “capsule” for 25,000 euros: the Chinese solution to housing that … Read more

London prohibited renting homes on Airbnb more than 90 days a year. You will not believe what happened: prices lowered

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In 2017 it was Airbnb itself that introduced an innovative limit in the city of London: 90 annual days as a stop for complete housing rentals. The measure, adopted after authorities pressure Local and London’s town hall, sought to prevent the platform from being used fraudulently. Today we know that the consequence, although weak, was expected: up to 4%. Airbnb and London. Airbnb’s growth in London during the 2010 made the city one of the main focus of the collaborative economy, with More than 40,000 properties offered and an annual expansion. However, what was born as a specific form of income for individuals quickly became a business for professional operators. Almost A quarter From the advertisements of complete housing they exceeded the threshold of the 90 annual rental nights without having the required permission, which took thousands of floors from the residential market. The phenomenon generated neighborhood complaints about the constant rotation of temporary tenants and additional pressure on a market already tensioning for the lack of affordable housing. The political reaction. The lack of capacity of the municipalities to monitor these excesses led to local leaders Como Sarah Haywardin Camden, to denounce that whole neighborhoods were being emptied of long -term rent. Given this situation, Airbnb recognized that the regulation was inescapable and that it should prevent its platform from being used as a way to operate undercover hotels. The measure had the support of opposition politicians, Like Tom Copleythat demanded a firm response to stop the negative effects on local communities. The 90 -day rule. Thus, given the growing pressure, Airbnb decided to introduce in 2017 An automatic limitation: No host could rent a complete home more than 90 nights per year unless it was proven to have authorization from the Consistory. It was a way of transferring the legal restriction directly to the code of the application itself, preventing the ads from remaining active once the limit is exceeded. With this measure, the company tried to stop Operators’ abuse professionals and project a commitment to urban sustainability. The change was well received by local managers, who considered that only a platform level control could guarantee the effective compliance of the norm. The impact on prices. Now, with the data of recent studiesan open secret has been confirmed: that the Airbnb expansion reduced the residential rental offer and uploaded prices in several districts in London. But not just that. The introduction of the 90 -day rule allowed for a time to mitigate part of these effects, with a registered fall around 4.1% in housing price rates after the entry into force of the regulation. In other words: the episode became a reference to analyze how digital platforms can transform urban markets and to what extent regulation itself can correct its externalities. The (great) dilemma. The London case reflects a gallimatisms present in many other large cities: How to balance the economic attraction of digital platforms with the need to protect housing as a social good. While Airbnb defenders highlight the flexibility, diversification of tourism and additional income for families, their critics underline the Gentrificationthe Tourist saturation and the loss of tissue Community London, in this way, became In a laboratory Of this tension, showing that without a robust regulatory framework (and, very important, sustained), the impact on housing can be devastating. A precedent. The introduction of The London rule He had an international impact, by inspiring other local governments to establish similar limits. European and American cities closely observed The experimentverifying that the combination of technological automation and political control could reduce adverse effects. The debate, of course, remains more than open: to what extent the platforms must self -regulate, and how far the states will impose restrictions to safeguard the right to housing. The citywith its mixture of neighborhood pressure, empirical data And political decisions, it was erected at a turning point in the relationship between digital economy and urban policies. Comparative with other “great.” As we said, the London frame was not isolated. In Berlinthe proliferation of tourist rentals led to the introduction of fines of up to 100,000 euros For those who rent more than half of their home without permission, a rule that sought to avoid the massive conversion of residential buildings into tourist accommodations. In Barcelonathe City Council has undertaken A crusade Against illegal tourist floors, closing hundreds of ads and fine Airbnb for not removing accommodations without a license, in an attempt to contain the expulsion of neighbors in central neighborhoods (while hotels prices rose). In New Yorkthe restrictions focused in limiting rentals of complete apartments when the owner did not live in the same property, accompanied by daily sanctions of up to $ 1,000to prevent whole blocks from being converted into clandestine hotels. San Francisco set sanctions from up to $ 1,000 newspapers not to register the properties. All examples that show how cities, each with their legal and social peculiarities, agreed on an essential point: the Airbnb phenomenon had overcome the border of technological innovation to become a real political and urban challenge of the first order. Image | Pexels, Pexels In Xataka | It is not that mass tourism has been installed in Madrid, Barcelona or Rome, is that it has reached the Galapagos Islands In Xataka | In 2023 New York closed the tap to Airbnb to protect his home. Two years later, only hotels are happy

Saudi Arabia is not buying EA for video games. He is buying cultural influence in hundreds of millions of homes

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An Arab sovereign background has just closed the greatest leverage purchase operation in history: 55,000 million dollars per electronic arts. Paying a 25% premium (in the normal fork), apparently without haggling (definitely abnormal). Closing the operation in record time. And nobody lifts an eyebrow. Because it is supposed to be “only video games.” But they are not “only video games”: It is the FC 26 Entering every week in the living room of 150 million homes, especially for its younger members. Is THE SIMS Teaching what a family, a career, an aspirational life is. Is Madden Nfl and Battlefield occupying Sunday afternoons and the nights during the Week of Medio Planet. Saudi Arabia has not bought a study but a more powerful cultural distribution channel than any television networkquieter than any advertising campaign, more effective than any Hollywood study. Let’s think about the concrete: In EA Sports FC, every year it is decided which goals to include, what flags appear in the stadiums, what social messages are integrated into the game, what role is granted to women’s football, what attire the fans carry. In the PREMs, it is defined what kind of relationships are possible and which are not, what professional careers are glamorized and which ones lose value, what constitutes “success” in simulated life. In Battlefield, it is chosen what historical conflicts represent, how it is portrayed to the Middle East, what factions are “the good”. These are not technical details. They are editorial decisions that mold the worldview of millions of players They spend hundreds of hours a year in these worlds. And when a company stops quoting in the stock market, those decisions are no longer publicly justified: There are no shareholders asking why certain flags of certain markets were eliminated. Do not explain why references to alcohol, to the game, to sex or certain lifestyles disappear in subsequent updates. There are no analysts questioning why certain conflicts are represented in a certain way. There are no quarterly reports that explain narrative changes. Only gradual, imperceptible adjustments, which normalize certain visions of the world. The Saudi fund has not gone for studies indie experimental or for niche games with political messages. Has gone for the more franchises mainstreamsafe and massive on the planet. The least questionable possible. He Soft Power more invisible that exists: entertainment so normalized that nobody wonders who is behind. He simply plays. And then there is the detail that goes unnoticed: they pay 25% premium on the closing price without blinking. They close in a few months when operations thus usually lengthened years. A traditional investment fund would have dribble each percentage point. I would have asked for more DUE Diligence. He would have negotiated to the last dollar. The Saudi PIF pays the premium and accelerates the closure. Because When your goal is not to maximize the return of the invested but maximize strategic influence, speed matters more than the price. Close before someone realizes what you are really buying. Microsoft has been consolidating the purchase of Blizzard Activision for two years. This goes quickly. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son -in -law, is in this operation, according to the Financial Timesand not by chance. Its background, Affinity Partners, He received 2,000 million from the Saudi Pif after leaving the White House. Now returns the favor: its presence converts a foreign purchase into an operation “led by Americans”, which reduces the scrutiny of the Foreign Investment Committee (CFIUS). While he appears as a consortium architect, the White House will see partners and not threats. It can be replicated that this is only economic diversification, petrodollars looking for return in entertainment. If so, why not buy Netflix, Disney or Spotify? Why specifically the sector where you can shake what millions of teenagers do for thousands of hours a year without appearing propaganda? The amazing thing is not that this happens. Soccer has accustomed us to Saudi laundering. The hallucinating thing is that almost nobody questions it. The best way to exercise power and influence is that it simply seems fun. LOOT Boxes And seasonal passes while nobody wonders who decides what to normalize in those worlds. And when you take out a stock market company (what will happen with EA), you eliminate the quarterly transparency obligation, you no longer have to account for western scrutiny shareholders and you can make subtle adjustments that no one will detect until it is too late. Nothing scandalous. Only small changes in narratives, representations, progression systems that, multiplied by 500 million players for years, move entire cultural needles. That is the perfect conquest. In Xataka | This game has been scheduled by only one person, and there is already talk of him as one of the great Shooters of the year Outstanding image | Xataka

We are running out of a key material to build roads and homes. And the guilt has the war in Ukraine

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In the middle of the month of May a photo seemed to have sneaked between the “normality” of some remote roads from Teruel. The constant coming and going of loaded trucks up to clay He had the answer to thousands of kilometers, in the epicenter of the war in Ukraine. The shortage of the material because of the conflict had found a solution in southern Europe. But now it is, perhaps, more dangerous. We are running out of TNT. From the boom to the agency. I told it a few hours ago The New York Times. For more than a century, Trinitrotoluene (TNT) was a pillar of the American military and civil industry, with millions of tons produced for The two world wars and the second half of the twentieth century. Cheap and abundant (it cost just 50 cents per pound), it became key input for projectiles, pumps and the construction of roads, infrastructure and homes. The problem? That its production generated highly toxic waste, which led to the closing of the last national plant In the eighties. Since then, Washington became dependent on foreign suppliers, mainly in China, Russia, Poland and Ukraine, which assumed the environmental costs of their manufacture. The impact of war. The Russian invasion in 2022 transformed that scheme. The United States stopped recycling explosives of obsolete arsenals, by deciding allocate your production to kyiv. At the same time, Russia and China They cut Exports to the West, leaving the American industry without access to its usual sources. Thus, the European conflict triggered a World TNT scarcity with direct consequences for arms production and, very important, also for civil sectors such as mining and construction. Effects. The lack of TNT Threat with slowing down Infrastructure projects, from roads and bridges to the supply of cement and basic materials. He underlined the Times that the usual procedure in quarries (where minimal loads of TNT detonate ammonium nitrate mixtures with other compounds) has been affected by the reduction of supplies. The use of drones, 3D scanners and digital calculations allows more precise and safe explosions, capable of moving More than 100,000 tons of rock in a single shot, but without TNT the processes lose efficacy, which raises costs and threatens the availability of raw materials. The United States response. Given the shortage, Congress approved the construction of a new TNT plant in Kentucky, with a Budget of 435 million of dollars. It is planned to start operating in 2028, but, and very important, it will only produce for military use, without supplying the civil sector. No doubt, this reflects a clear priority: ensure the autonomy of the military-industrial complex against external dependence, although leaving without immediate solution the problem of extractive and construction industries. In parallel, the pentagon works in Diversify suppliers and increase the internal production of other explosives and propellant. Alternatives and scenarios. At present, the industry seeks substitutes such as The Petn (Tetranitrate Pentaeritritol), which is already manufactured in three US facilities, although its capacity is limited and it is not clear if it can be climbed quickly. Meanwhile, the country’s army has given signs of having assured Additional TNT sources out of Poland, although Without revealing details. In any case, the situation raises a strategic dilemma: the dependence on obsolete material but irreplaceable in many processes, whose absence threatens both the war capacity and the stability of basic sectors of the economy. TNT’s scarcity exposes, one more timehow a distant war can disrupt critical supply chains and force industrial powers to rethink their energy, technological and military security. Image | Operational Command “West” In Xataka | Ukraine has entered a phase so deranged with the drones that his drones are knocking themselves to themselves In Xataka | Someone has taken a look at Russia’s satellite images and has discovered something: it is running out of tanks

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