In Spain, Sánchez announces new measures to address the housing crisis

This package of 12 measures, which includes announcements unveiled in recent weeks, responds to "three objectives": to have "more housing", to allow "better regulation" and to offer "more significant aid", assured the socialist leader during an economic forum.

According to Mr. Sánchez, 600.000 homes were built each year during the real estate boom of the 2000s, when 400.000 new homes were registered by the authorities. Today, only 90.000 homes are put on the market, while the country registers 300.000 new homes per year.

The Prime Minister, who attributes this decrease to the measures taken by the Popular Party (right) after the 2008 crisis, insisted in particular on the low stock of social housing.

Today, "we only have 2,5% of public housing (...) We are far behind other member states" of the European Union, "like France, which has 14% (of social housing), or the Netherlands, which has 34%", Mr. Sánchez said.

To this end, the Prime Minister announced the transfer to a newly created public company of two million square metres of land where "thousands and thousands of affordable social housing units" could be built.

To combat the proliferation of tourist apartments, accused of driving up rents by limiting the number of homes available to residents, Mr. Sánchez also announced an increase in taxation and a strengthening of controls by the administration.

"It is not fair that those who own three, four, five apartments for short-term rental pay less tax than hotels," he said, promising to present a reform to Parliament so that these owners are taxed as "companies" are.

To curb soaring rents, Pedro Sánchez has also promised a tax exemption for owners who agree to rent their properties according to the rental reference index established by the authorities, even in areas that are not under pressure.

The Spanish Prime Minister had already passed a flagship housing law in May 2023, providing for an increase in the construction of social housing, rent controls in high-demand areas and penalties for owners who leave their homes unoccupied.

But this text has not yet succeeded in stopping the rise in rents, which increased by another 11% last year, according to the real estate portal Idealista.