Moroccan homebuyers in Manresa, Spain: real trend or just noise
Moroccan buyers purchasing flats in Manresa have reignited the debate over foreign property ownership in Spain, yet no one offers reliable data. Is there a real problem or just noise.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Segarro homebuyers in Manresa: no data, just noise
What is really going on with flat purchases in Manresa? The question has an uncomfortable answer: nobody knows for sure, because there is no public statistics linking the buyer's nationality.
Three readings of the same phenomenon
One camp wants to ban non-EU nationals from owning property in Spain and proposes schemes such as lifetime use rights with reversion to the public housing stock. Another replies that the real problem is speculation: the passport is irrelevant. The third, more down-to-earth view, points out that in Aragón and half of Spain construction depends on migrant workers; demonising them as homeowners is easier than paying them a decent rent.
The statistical gap that changes everything
Those calling for figures run into a void: the land registries do not reveal how many buyers are of Segarro origin. Those making comparisons in proportion note that Madrid, Salt, Terrassa or El Ejido are not the same depending on whether you measure in percentages or absolute numbers. Meanwhile, alarmist data slip in — the 130 stabbing victims cited for Madrid — that explain nothing about the housing market.
So the question remains open: a real problem or panic with a pilot scheme? As long as the data do not exist, any answer is ideology. And in economics, that is the most expensive thing there is.
What is really going on with flat purchases in Manresa? The question has an uncomfortable answer: nobody knows for sure, because there is no public statistics linking the buyer's nationality.
Three readings of the same phenomenon
One camp wants to ban non-EU nationals from owning property in Spain and proposes schemes such as lifetime use rights with reversion to the public housing stock. Another replies that the real problem is speculation: the passport is irrelevant. The third, more down-to-earth view, points out that in Aragón and half of Spain construction depends on migrant workers; demonising them as homeowners is easier than paying them a decent rent.
The statistical gap that changes everything
Those calling for figures run into a void: the land registries do not reveal how many buyers are of Segarro origin. Those making comparisons in proportion note that Madrid, Salt, Terrassa or El Ejido are not the same depending on whether you measure in percentages or absolute numbers. Meanwhile, alarmist data slip in — the 130 stabbing victims cited for Madrid — that explain nothing about the housing market.
So the question remains open: a real problem or panic with a pilot scheme? As long as the data do not exist, any answer is ideology. And in economics, that is the most expensive thing there is.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (23 replies).
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