Land, taxes and deposits: the plan to make housing cheaper

Freeing up land and cutting taxes: a plan against housing prices

The housing problem is at the centre of a debate with clashing remedies. The proposal that opens it starts from a simple diagnosis: without land you cannot build, and the available land takes far too long to be rezoned from rural to developable. On that basis, a battery of measures unfolds covering land, taxes, mortgages, inheritances and rental deposits. Its author sums it up like this: either several things get fixed at once, or nothing gets fixed at all.

Developable land and the 20-25% in taxes that goes into every home

The first piece is supply. Freeing up developable land and speeding up the process of converting rural land into buildable land are presented as preconditions: if a town grows, it cannot wait years for land to be unlocked.

The second is fiscal. Between 20% and 25% of the cost of building a home goes to taxes, according to the estimate behind the proposal. In a sale, the paperwork — the ITP (property transfer tax), which reaches close to 10% depending on the Spanish region, plus legal documents, notaries, registries and valuations — takes around another 15% or 20% of the budget. For first homes, the proposal calls for a symbolic ITP or none at all. The Ley de Vivienda (Spain's housing law), passed by the PSOE, is singled out as the main culprit: it is blamed for having protected squatting and left property owners without tools.

Funds, public stock and mortgages: touching demand and risk

Here the package becomes more interventionist. It proposes banning homes from ending up in the hands of buyers from outside Spain with higher salaries, and limiting the entry of large real estate funds.

In parallel, attention turns to the country's largest holder. Sareb is sitting on thousands of homes and idle plots, the proposal argues, while the housing emergency is invoked; the remedy is to release them, auction them off, or immediately allocate them to affordable rent or purchase.

For mortgages, the demand is to freeze the reference rate: the Euríbor at the time plus the agreed spread, fixed for the life of the loan. The argument is that the bank should cover the risk in the interbank markets rather than pass the shock on to the household's pocket.

Inheritance, deposits and renting: the domestic front

Inheritance and gift tax between parents, children, spouses and siblings would be set at 0%, with no surcharges for receiving several properties in the same inheritance. The reasoning: you cannot be taxed twice on wealth that has already paid taxes.

On renting, the list is long. A move-in inventory with photos and video, and a move-out inventory that distinguishes ordinary wear and tear — untouchable — from damage, which can be deducted with an official invoice. Deposit refunds within a maximum of 15 days, with a 20% monthly late-payment interest if the deposit is withheld without justification. Serious breakdowns not repaired within 7 days allow tenants to deduct from the rent. And 100% of the rent deductible from income tax.

From 30% of social housing to today's 1%

The figure one participant brings up, without a source, is historical: in the Franco era 30% of homes were officially protected housing, and a worker could pay one off with three or four years of their full salary. Today, according to him, the share stands at 1%. It is not nostalgia; he asks that people check how much that cushion has shrunk.

The rebuttals: supply and demand only, or change the system

There is no agreement. One camp reduces everything to supply and demand — build more or reduce demand — and considers the rest a distraction. Another argues the root is ethical rather than technical. Recipes such as expropriating housing, removing politicians from the process or leaving the euro also come up. And a widespread suspicion: those who promise to fix it are part of the problem.

Given this picture, the outlook implied by the proposal is that no measure will reach its goal on its own: if they are passed together, the effect could be felt; if they are split up, prices will most likely hold where they are.