Spain's parties on housing: lots of paper, few homes
Spanish parties' housing plans range from expropriation to liberalisation. Meanwhile, €11 billion goes to pensions. Will any promise be kept?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Housing: the menu of electoral promises nobody buys
If there is one thing that unites Spain's political parties, it is the conviction that the "housing problem" must be solved. The trouble is they have been promising it for decades and things only get worse. The latest catalogue of remedies, drawn from their election manifestos, ranges from expropriating vulture funds to fully liberalising land.
From price controls to tax cuts
On one side, the left-wing bloc (PSOE, Sumar, Podemos) backs expanding the public housing stock, capping rents and taxing large landlords. Sumar proposes an annual 5% tax on the property wealth of anyone owning four or more homes. Podemos would go as far as expropriating vulture funds. On the other, the PP and Vox agree on liberalising land, speeding up permits and cutting taxes on first-home purchases. The PP promises to cut construction times from 10 to 4 years and a €1,000 cheque for under-40s.
Scepticism is the answer
The prevailing reaction is distrust. Critics point out that the PSOE has been in government for years and that its promises of mass construction (180,000 homes) dissolve into bureaucracy. Others note that while pensioners — the country's richest group — see their pensions rise by 6% (at an annual cost of €11 billion), only a fraction goes to public housing. With that money, between 150,000 and 200,000 public homes could instead be built, doubling the state's stock.
The result is a landscape of contradictory promises and little delivery. If anything can work, it is perhaps a combination of increasing supply (liberalisation) and curbing speculative uses (tourism, large landlords). But given the track record, any forecast of a solution is as safe a bet as promising that this time will be different.
If there is one thing that unites Spain's political parties, it is the conviction that the "housing problem" must be solved. The trouble is they have been promising it for decades and things only get worse. The latest catalogue of remedies, drawn from their election manifestos, ranges from expropriating vulture funds to fully liberalising land.
From price controls to tax cuts
On one side, the left-wing bloc (PSOE, Sumar, Podemos) backs expanding the public housing stock, capping rents and taxing large landlords. Sumar proposes an annual 5% tax on the property wealth of anyone owning four or more homes. Podemos would go as far as expropriating vulture funds. On the other, the PP and Vox agree on liberalising land, speeding up permits and cutting taxes on first-home purchases. The PP promises to cut construction times from 10 to 4 years and a €1,000 cheque for under-40s.
Scepticism is the answer
The prevailing reaction is distrust. Critics point out that the PSOE has been in government for years and that its promises of mass construction (180,000 homes) dissolve into bureaucracy. Others note that while pensioners — the country's richest group — see their pensions rise by 6% (at an annual cost of €11 billion), only a fraction goes to public housing. With that money, between 150,000 and 200,000 public homes could instead be built, doubling the state's stock.
The result is a landscape of contradictory promises and little delivery. If anything can work, it is perhaps a combination of increasing supply (liberalisation) and curbing speculative uses (tourism, large landlords). But given the track record, any forecast of a solution is as safe a bet as promising that this time will be different.
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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 (26 replies).
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