La Rioja has 8,971 unsold new homes while prices stay high

Why are 9,000 homes sitting empty in La Rioja when there's a housing crisis?

La Rioja ended 2025 with 8,971 unsold new homes, 4.16% of its total housing stock, according to official data. The figure fell just 2.2% from the previous year, and the stock is concentrated in the Logroño area, a city of about 150,000 people. While demand outstrips supply in Madrid or Barcelona, here developers are piling up inventory they can't shift. What's going wrong?

Price: the first insurmountable wall

The most obvious explanation is that these homes aren't selling because they cost more than local wages can afford. A recurring analysis points out: you can offer a thousand Ferraris, but if people don't have the money, they won't sell. In Logroño, salaries hover around €1,200 net, and many young people inherit housing, reducing first-time buyer demand. The analogy is direct: it's not that supply is excessive, it's that the asking price doesn't match purchasing power.

Taxes and costs: 40% of the price goes on fees

Another strand of the debate points out that 40% of the price of a new home goes on taxes and administrative costs. Add to that an average two years to obtain building permits, a 65% increase in costs from the Technical Building Code, and an additional 12% on each sale. Regulation and bureaucracy make the final product more expensive to the point of being unaffordable for most. Freeing up land and simplifying procedures appear as recurring prescriptions, though they clash with political reality.

Demographics and speculation: an explosive cocktail

La Rioja doesn't attract population like other regions. Villages are emptying, young people stay in inherited homes, and the arrival of new residents is limited. On the supply side, some denounce practices of using intermediary companies to inflate prices and hide real stock. There's talk of entire developments with curtains always drawn and the same Ikea furniture, simulating occupancy. As long as banks don't demand loan repayments, the stock can sit for years without prices correcting downwards.

Lessons from other markets: not all new housing is the same

La Rioja's figure doesn't invalidate the national crisis; it nuances it. Housing is a hyperlocal good: having flats in Logroño doesn't help house a waiter in Madrid. As a technical analysis points out, the stock may include developments in municipalities with no demand, poorly located homes, or unrealistically priced ones. The inventory would need to be broken down by municipality and year of construction to know if it's really effective supply. Meanwhile, the Riojan paradox shows that the housing problem isn't just quantitative, but about prices, location, and regulation.

Conclusion: in La Rioja there are homes, but not for those who need them at the price asked. The magic solution of 'build more' doesn't work if what's built doesn't match real demand. Ironies of the market: when it's more profitable for a developer not to sell than to recognise the loss.