El País never said life was better under Franco

El País never said life was better under Franco: it said housing has worsened over 50 years

The headline circulating on social media claims El País has rediscovered the economic wonders of Francoism. The actual tweet never mentions Franco. It says that a second home was, in the 1960s and 70s, a marker of social status, and that half a century later fewer and fewer people can afford even a first one. The gap between what was shared and what was written is the first headline, but the second is more uncomfortable: Funcas' data supports anyone who sees relative impoverishment in housing.

Construction has collapsed by 77% in half a century
The figures published by Funcas in July leave no room for nuance: in 1970, 8.9 new homes were built per 1,000 inhabitants; in 2024, the figure is 2.1. A 77% drop. Over the same period, the real price of housing rose 300%, the third-largest increase in Europe, surpassed only by Ireland and the United Kingdom. No nostalgia needed: with those numbers, the 1970 generation had a structural advantage today's generation cannot replicate no matter how hard it tightens its belt.

Social housing, the great absentee
The other side of the coin is public policy. Social housing today accounts for 3.3% of Spain's housing stock, compared with an EU average of 8%. Public spending on housing per inhabitant is far below the European level (the data breaks off right there, as if Funcas were also running out of breath). Someone will have to explain how the middle class is meant to be sustained without a safety net that existed half a century ago, however flawed and paternalistic it was.

The underlying problem is not Franco, it is volume: less is being built, it costs more, and the state has ceased to be a relevant player. Are we normalizing each generation living worse than the last? The answer is not even debated anymore: it has become the goal.