By Cora Serrano
Madrid, Oct 3 (EFE).- Housing remains one of the main concerns for Spaniards and one of the most difficult issues for policymakers, with political parties still divided over how to address the shortage and establish a long-term strategy that extends beyond electoral cycles.
Recent events have brought the issue back to the forefront.
The eviction in Madrid of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal sparked street protests and renewed debate over the housing crisis, while highlighting the political difficulty of reaching broad agreement on measures to improve access to housing.
The rejection Friday in Congress of two housing decrees approved on an urgent basis by the coalition government, one of them providing for the automatic extension of rental contracts, underscored the government’s difficulties in securing parliamentary majorities.
The dispute comes as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez considers whether to call early general elections ahead of the scheduled 2027 vote.
The legislature’s unresolved issue
Housing has been one of the central issues of political debate during the current legislative term and remains unresolved.
According to the Bank of Spain, Spain accumulated a housing deficit in recent years, concentrated particularly in areas where demand is strongest.
The central bank has also pointed to the country’s relatively limited construction of new homes and the need to expand affordable rental housing.
The imbalance between housing supply and demand has put upward pressure on both purchase prices and rents.
Eurostat data shows that house prices continued to rise in Spain in the second quarter of 2026, although the increase varied considerably across European countries.
At euro-area level, prices rose 4 percent year-on-year, while the EU average increase was 4.7 percent.
The Housing Ministry’s valuation statistics, which date back to 1995, also show sustained increases in residential property values, according to the ministry’s data.
Insufficient supply
Unlike the previous financial crisis, when Spain faced an oversupply of housing and widespread problems among mortgage borrowers, the current situation is largely characterized by insufficient supply in areas where demand is strongest.
The construction sector is calling for a broad national agreement, lower housing-related taxes, changes to land legislation, greater tax incentives, increased support for industrialized construction and, above all, greater legal certainty to attract the investment needed to build more homes.
The sector is also facing higher material and financing costs, while a shortage of workers is limiting its ability to increase construction to the levels needed to meet demand.
The supply shortage is particularly visible in the rental market. In the absence of comprehensive official rental-price statistics, data from property portal Idealista show Madrid as Spain’s most expensive provincial capital for rents, at €23.30 per square meter, followed by Barcelona at €20.20 and Palma at €19.30.
Such prices mean that many tenants have to devote more than 30% of their income to housing costs.
Spain also has a relatively small stock of public housing compared with several other European countries. The Bank of Spain has identified the expansion of public rental housing at affordable prices as one of the measures that could help address the country’s housing pressures. EFE
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