homes

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

The 14 million empty homes

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In May 2024, the New York Times launched A report that undressed the situation of the real estate crisis in China. There was no doubt. It was one of the most serious in their recent history and the numbers were devastating: there were four million finished apartments without buyer, and another ten million sold, but still without building. The oversight was a direct consequence of something that had already happened in Japan. A year later, the situation is a bit worse. The Japanese precedent. The comparison between the current Chinese economy and the Japanese of The nineties It was inevitable: both face the consequences of inflated real estate bubbles for erratic fiscal and monetary policies, excessive expectations and an adverse demographic background. Japan lived a boom in housing prices that multiplied by more than two the relationship between cost and rent, sustained by a wave of first -time buyers, tax policies favorable to land and financial deregulation. He mirage of wealth It promoted consumption and employment, but when the population began to age and the number of new buyers was reduced, the real estate values ​​collapsed, dragging the bag and plunging the country into a deflation trap marked by unemployment and falling birth. The Japanese solution. Japan Times remembered That Tokyo’s political response, based on aggressive monetary and fiscal stimuli, misunderstood the root of the problem: it was a Chronic demographicnot of a conjunctural episode. The consequence was to aggravate imbalances, further increase housing, delay marriages and reduce births. With the passage of time, Japan managed to escape from deflation, but was caught in a Long -term inflation circlewith salaries pressured up for work shortage, industrial weakening and loss of competitiveness, all aggravating population contraction and profiling what some call not only “lost decades”, but “lost centuries.” The Chinese challenge. China today faces a panorama even more severe. The accelerated urbanization, the shortage of land imposed by public policies, the fiscal dependence of local governments of land sales and unlimited growth expectations inflated prices until unprecedented levels. At its peak, the real estate sector came to contribute a Fourth part of GDP national and more than a third of public income, while representing near the 70% of family assetsin front of the 50% in Japan In 1990. With price-unworthy ratios more than double than the Japanese and a residential investment that became 1.5 times higher than the Japanese in proportion to GDP, the prick of the bubble has left millions of homes without demand, collapse of construction, chronic overcapacity and a destruction of family wealth equivalent to a whole year of national production. Residential Zone in Shanghai The demographic trap. If Japan suffered the contraction of first -time buyers to from 40 yearsin China the situation is more serious: due to the Single Son Policythe average acquisition of the first home is earlier, towards 28-32 years. That cohort reached its maximum in 2019, just before the burst of the bubble, which means that there will be no second demand such as the one that the Japanese situation in the 2000s partially relieved. In addition, the population over 65 grows at a dizzying pace: what Japan took 28 years, China will reach it in just two decadesuntil 2040. To this is added a very low internal consumption, just one 38% of GDP In 2020, compared to 50% Japanese in 1990, which limits the capacity of domestic demand to cushion the crisis. The Evergrande case. Today, the Chinese real estate market, which for more than two decades was the great engine of economic growth, crosses a descending spiral that has been five years and threatens to chronify. The magnitude of the collapse was revealed with the record losses of Vanke in 2024 and with the Evergrande decision (The most notorious symbol of the boom and subsequent collapse) to retire from the Hong Kong bag after accumulating liabilities by 360,000 million dollars. Evergrande, that at its peak became the largest promoter of the country and the emblem of an expansion based in debt and speculation, He collapsed When Beijing imposed limits on financing in 2020. Its liquidation reflects not only the failure of restructuring attempts, but also the depth of the crisis that drags the rest of the sector. Urbanization, debt and speculation. Bloomberg remembered That Beijing’s problem has its roots in 1998, when the housing market was liberalized in an even mostly rural country. In just two decades, almost 500 million people They moved to the cities, which generated an unprecedented boom in the construction and turned the house into the main asset of Chinese families, until reaching the 80% of its wealth. Between 2000 and 2015 prices are multiplied by sixfed by speculation and a model that allowed promoters to seem homes not yet built to finance their growth. At the same time, local governments became dependent on the sale of land to sustain their budgets, feedback the bubble. At the end of the 2010, the total value of the real estate sector exceeded The 50 billion dollarstwice the United States market. The “three red lines.” In 2020, fearful of a bubble that could destabilize the financial system, the government imposed Hard restrictions: Limits to indebtedness, liquidity demands and brake on the concession of mortgages. These rules, known as The “three red lines”They suffocated promoters who already operated on the limit of their financial capacity. The coup coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, which paralyzed works and He stopped the demand. In 2021, Evergrande stopped paying his debt, which marked the official start of the crisis. Other giants such as Country Garden and Sunac followed the same path. Since then, Hong Kong courts have ordered the liquidation of several promoters Chinese, included China South City Holdings In August 2024, confirming the structural fragility of a sector built on debt and unreal expectations. Price drop and excess supply. The demand collapsed from 2022, when the economic uncertainty and the loss of jobs eroded the confidence of the buyers. Prices fell strongly, registering … Read more

There are regions of Spain that are building more houses than homes. And not even the wrings even go down

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That Spain suffers A housing deficit It is no novelty. Just as it is not that construction is unable to advance to the rhythm of formation of new homes. ACI, the Real Estate Consulting Association, has just published however A study that reveals something curious: there are 11 provinces in which it is built faster than new homes are constituted. The striking thing is that, although a priori that ‘surplus’ suggests less pressure in the market, its prices do not soften. On the contrary, they grow, as in the rest of the country. Asturias leaves A good example. A fact: 134,649. That is the real estate deficit that Spain accumulated last year according to The last report DE ACI, the Spanish Association of Real Estate Consulting. In this way it may sound abstract or too theoretical, but the data reflects something very simple: the mismatch between the number of housing and the new homes created throughout 2024. While the former stayed at 86,609, the seconds, which grow at much higher speed, amounted to 134,649, aggravating the housing shortage that Spain suffers. What are the reasons? “This lag shows the structural difficulties facing the promoter sector in Spain, derived from both the shortage of finalist land and the increases in construction costs, normative restrictions and delays in urban processing,” concludes The report, which recalls that the 86,609 houses delivered are also below the forecast of new homes. The 2024 deficit is also added to the one registered in recent years and that ACI estimated at 349,934 Since 2020. The association is not the first to warn of the difficulties that Spain is being found to adjust the creation of housing to the formation of New homes. In May the Bank of Spain estimated the lack of housing in Between 400,000 and 450,000 units in the period 2022-2024, an elevated figure, but that moves in any case of the huge hole of 600,000 that indicated in its 2023 report. Analyzing the map in detail. The most interesting thing about ACI study It is not so much the photo at the national level as its details, the information provided by each community. The reason? Although in most cases the delivery of housing was unable to cover the creation of new homes, enlarging its residential deficit, the agency identified 11 provinces in which the result was the inverse. That is, the volume of built houses covered (and exceeded) the creation of households. That is the peculiar situation in which Asturias, Burgos, Cáceres, Ciudad Real, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Soruel, Teruel, Valladolid and Zamora were found, to which the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla are added. Although they got off the general trend of Spain and closed 2024 with ‘residential surplus’, their effect was barely felt on the national balance. Among those 13 territories there are only a plus of 5,005 homes above the houses created. Province Housing delivered New real homes Difference 4th quarter price of 2023 (€/m2) * 4th quarter price of 2024 (€/m2) * Asturias 1.820 257 1,563 1,347.2 1,473.1 Burgos 808 462 346 1,169.3 1,212.3 Cáceres 1,344 267 1,077 849.7 873.4 Ceuta 71 41 30 1,827.3 1,937.5 C. Real 722 655 67 712.5 725.5 Lion 403 62 341 889.8 914.8 Melilla 182 150 32 1,827.3 1,937.5 Palencia 373 -46 419 931.1 954.7 Salamanca 485 220 265 1,218.1 1,230.7 Soria 460 247 213 939.8 968.7 Teruel 305 267 38 819.2 891.4 Valladolid 1.116 970 146 1,309.7 1,374.6 Zamora 152 -316 468 804.4 836.4 National Total 86,609 221.258 -134,649 1,842.3 1,972.1 *The prices are extracted from the official registration of the average appraisal value of the free housing that the government publishes quarterly Why is it interesting? So it reveals to us from the market. Although there are many buyer profiles (investors, families interested in a second residence or people who want to take a property and then dedicate it to the holiday rental), which in those 11 provinces (more Ceuta and Melilla) the delivery of homes exceeds the creation of households suggests a lower pressure of the demand on supply. And that, a priori, should move to market prices. Asturias leaves an especially interesting case. According to Data published by ACIthere last year 1,820 homes were delivered and 257 new real homes were recorded. The balance remained in green numbers with a positive balance of 1,653 homes. The second example is found in Cáceres (1,077), where he accounted for 1,344 homes delivered to 267 new real homes. And what happened to prices? They grew up. Despite this lower pressure in the market and that there was no mismatch between supply and demand for new homes, the house continued to take care. And that tells us about the key weight of other factors, such as costs or demand diversification. Government data on the appraisal value of the house shows that at the end of 2023 the square meter (m2) of free housing in the Principality was at 1,347 euros. A year later it was already at 1,473. The increase was therefore 9.35%, not very different from 9.43%of Madrid and several points above the state average, of 7.05%. If we turn to idealist the photo is similar. The real estate portal estimates that in December 2023 the residential M2 for sale cost in the Principality 1,371 euros and in the same month last year it was already 1,471. In summary: an increase of 7.29%. In THE CASE OF MADRID (Province) There are differences with respect to official appraisal data. During the same period it has passed from 3,208 to 3,771, which leaves an increase much greater than that of Asturias, of around 17.5%. A rising market. The Principality data does not surprise if one takes into account that its real estate market is on the rise. The latest data from the General Council of Notaries, published recently by The voice of AsturiasThey show a 19.9% growth in housing sale operations and an year -on -year increase in the price of 7.7%, although their … Read more

Xiaomi has a plan to conquer all the homes of Spain. And his first step begins today with the air conditioning

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When Xiaomi He celebrated its fiftyth anniversary two months ago, Lei Jun, CEO of the Company, presented to the world the products with which the company I would conquer the future of consumer technology. During that event there was talk of refrigerators, washing machines, of chipsof electric cars and even smart taps. However, the most striking was what No There was talk: mobile phones. In his fifteen years of history, Xiaomi has been inserted in the popular imaginary as a company of functional mobile phones and good price. The figures are witness: Xiaomi It has grown year after year in Spain until it becomes the indisputable leader in sales, and the perspective in the medium term It remains of growth. It was the company that broke the taboo over Chinese technology and the one that opened the door so that others, later access the western market. That is the past. Xiaomi’s future does not only go through mobile phones. May events and Junewhere they also presented The glasses and The Yu7they symbolize a change that the company has been undertaking for years. The future of consumer technology no longer resides on phones (although they are still very important, such as THE MIX FLIP 2 reveals) but in everything that We can connectwhat today translates into all applications of our daily life: from The appliances even watches, through voice attendees, televisions and, of course, The electric car. Xiaomi aspires to unify all the technologies of a life and shelter them under their brand. And that aspiration is ambitious: FEVER FOR SU7 In China, it shows that there is an appetite of “Xiaomi products” beyond mobile phones even in the most unsuspected places. The one that arrives in Spain today is a wide tour in our country, every year more if we think In the demanding heat waves that all summers attain us: the air-conditioning. The model that Xiaomi launches in Spain (the MIJIA AIR CONDITIONER PRO ECO In two powers, 2.6 kW and 3.5 kW) It is the spearhead of a much more ambitious expansion. In China, Xiaomi has been selling all kinds of household appliances and domestic technologies for years. Spain is its gateway to the western market. And to understand its strategy, to decipher what is the future path of Xiaomi globally and in our country, we have sat down to talk to Borja Gómez CarrilloCountry Manager of Xiaomi Iberia. This is how Xiaomi money earns – they attract you and catch you The air conditioning and Xiaomi plans In your last events you have accent on appliances: washing machine, fridge and even an intelligent tap. What is Xiaomi’s strategy at home? We are a company that is known by smartphones. It is very recognized in that area, our flagship, but more and more the part of the ecosystem has more relevance. We call “ecosystem” to products that are neither tablets or smartphones: the scooter, the security camera, the televisions and, of course, the appliances. Now we bring the air conditioning already the end of the year the refrigerators and washing machines. Why do we do this? Because we want to offer the consumer more and more products. We know that the smartphones market is very saturated, in penetration rates of more than 110%. Competing there is complicated. And that we are growing and we will continue to do so. But we want to expand the range of options for the consumer to have more capacity to buy our products. Who can do this right now? I think we are the only manufacturer that can offer that variety. How do we want to do it? Through “Human Car Home”. That the connectivity between devices is easy, that you can leave the office, with the smartphone, reach the car and you can connect; that you can see the security cameras of your home; that you may have left something prepared in the kitchen and program. Borja Gómez, Country Manager of Xiaomi Iberia, during the interview at the Xiaomi offices in Spain. It is striking that in that proposal the first thing you bring is an air conditioning because, as a consumer, I would not associate it so intuitively to the connected home. Why have you decided to start in Spain around? We can decide because, as you know, there are a lot of products in China, more than 2,500, and depending on the needs of the final consumer and the possibilities of selling it in the market we are bringing it. With the air conditioning we had to take advantage of: if we did not sell it in summer, later we were not going to be able to sell it. So the moment was now. We also believe it is a device that can be connected very easily. And in Spain, for the temperatures and for the market we have studied, we believe that it can give us good penetration. Is the decision to bring it to Spain very specific? Yes because not all Europe will have the air conditioning, and it is not going to be sold in all areas. In northern Spain the market is smaller than in the south. In Spain and Portugal, in the Peninsula in general, it can be brought by its climatic characteristics. You have mentioned the times and the decision to bring it right now, on July 4. Are you afraid of something late to the air conditioning campaign? We arrive something fair, but we have preferred to launch it now so that consumers can see the entire ecosystem we offer them. The truth is that it is at the limit. Generally the campaigns close in advance, but we do not bring a complicated units of selling. We have the right thing to have coverage throughout this year. I said it also thinking about everything that entails an air conditioning. Maintenance, post-sale service, installation. How are you going to land all this process in Spain for the client? We bring two references … Read more

There are so many people growing marijuana in their homes that Endesa has a problem. And it will solve it with ia

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In the industrial areas of many towns or cities, the constant buzzing of high pressure lamps illuminates hundreds of marijuana plants that grow to the rhythm of stolen electricity. It is a scenario that is repeated daily throughout Spain, where illegal cannabis cultivation and electric fraud They have woven a network of silent crime. Faced with this threat, Endesa has taken another step. Root cut. Endesa and the General Police Station of the National Police have signed a collaboration protocol to strengthen the fight against crimes that affect the electricity supply. From the massive electricity fraud to the theft of material, sabotages and even cyberators, as collects the press release. A more joint action. The protocol foresees, among other measures, joint training, information exchange, analytical reports, technical field advice. In addition, it contemplates the active participation of the Judicial Police in technical actions of Endesa and addresses associated crimes such as the manipulation of measuring equipment, the theft of personal data or scams to consumers by cybercriminals. A problem that does not stop growing. According to the European drug report 2025, Spain concentrate 73% Of all the seizures of marijuana in the EU, many of them in plantations Indoor connected fraudulently to the network. Only in the last year, the Endesa networks subsidiary, e-distribution, disconnected 2,214 illegal hooks related to crops, with a consumption equivalent to 70,000 homes. The data is replicated in different areas of the country. In Granada, like has detailed ABC Granada, between January and April of this year, Endesa has detected 246 illegal plantations, at the rate of two a day. In Córdoba, in the same period, 19 files have been opened, which is equivalent to one per week, According to the Córdoba Diario. In both cases, the excessive consumption – quoted to the up to 80 homes by plantation – saturates the network and causes collateral damage. The highest invoice. The impact goes far beyond the economic. These illegal connections cause constant overloads, with serious safety consequences. Last summer, 24 fires were recorded in the distribution network in Andalusia, five of them in Granada and four in Córdoba, directly linked to marijuana plantations, According to the Córdoba Diario. Technology at the service of prevention. To deal with this challenge, Endesa has opted for prevention. For years, predictive models based on artificial intelligence and Big Data have applied to detect suspicious patterns. Now, it has also begun to display smart sensors in its networks, capable of anticipating overloads before they occur. A battle without rest. Electric fraud linked to illegal marijuana culture not only challenges electricity, but also the coexistence model in many areas of the country. The answer is already underway, but the challenge – technical, police and social – has just begun. Image | Pexels Xataka | There are so many marijuana crops in Spain that they are causing problems to one of their great industries: electricity

China prepares its next technological assault. Huawei and Ubtech have just allying to bring humanoid robots to homes

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Humanoid robotics is ceasing to be a laboratory experiment. Bank of America Global Research CREE that its mass adoption could begin in 2028, with an industry that, if the forecasts were met, will move billions annually. Actually, the change is already underway: in 2025 about 18,000 units should be delivered and it is expected that by 2030 the million annual shipments will be reached, with a view to exceeding 10 million around 2035. While Tesla, Boston Dynamics and Figure AI develop their own humanoids in the US, in China a strategic alliance with global ambitions has been forged. As Sina points outHuawei, one of the country’s largest technological ones, and Ubtech Robotics, one of the most consolidated developers in the sector, have signed an agreement to collaborate in the development of humanoid robots for factories and homes. China steps on the accelerator in the humanoid robots sector The announcement was made in Shenzhen, a city where both companies are headded and considered by one of the main technological centers in southern China. As explained, the objective is to accelerate the transition of humanoid robotics “of laboratory innovation to the Large -scale adoption in industrial, domestic environments and other scenarios. ”Huawei will contribute its Ascend processors and Kunpengas well as cloud computing capabilities and generative AI models. The Alliance also contemplates the creation of an innovation center dedicated to the so -called “incarnate intelligence”: an approach that seeks to integrate cognitive functions into robotic bodies, which requires advanced coordination between algorithms, sensors, movement control and decision -making in real time. According to Leaderobot consultancythe Chinese domestic market of humanoid robotics could double this year and reach 5.3 billion yuan (about 665 million euros). Several of the country’s main manufacturers have already announced plans to overcome 1,000 units produced in 2025. Ubtech is one of them. Its president, Zhou Jian, confirmed it in March. Tien Kung Xingzhe, one of Ubtech’s robots This movement is part of a broader national strategy. As the New York Times detailsthe Chinese government is betting on industrial automation as part of its response to several challenges: commercial challenges, the fall in the birth and aging of the population. In factories such as Zeekr in NOBO, robots already perform tasks that previously required specialized labor. The objective is to maintain low costs and reinforce global competitiveness. And there is more. With the aim of encouraging the adoption of humanoid robots in the automobile industry, the Chinese authorities asked manufacturers to rent units, record videos in real environments and send them to the government. Even in the symbolic field there are blunt gestures: in April, Beijing organized a half marathon with 12,000 human runners and 20 humanoid robots. Only six crossed the goal, but the message was clear. Bank of America Global Research expect this sector evolve in three stages: first in factories and logistics (2025-2027), then in commercial and educational services (2028-2034), And finally in homeswith care and domestic applications from 2035. If the forecasts are met, in 2060 there could be 3,000 million humanoid robots in use worldwide. The challenge is not less. There are still technological bottlenecks, high production costs and dependence on tools and chips manufactured outside China. But with alliances such as Huawei and Ubtech, the Asian giant seems to be taking another determined step not to be left behind. What is clear is that the career to develop more advanced humanoid robots is underway. Images | Rubaitul Azad | Ubtech Robotics In Xataka | Klarna presumed that AI did the work of 700 people. Its quality is so low that it is rectuming humans

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