Spain is planning a raft of measures to address its brewing housing crisis, including an up to 100 per cent tax on properties that non-European Union residents buy.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the plan this week to tackle housing affordability and high rents in the southern European nation. He said that the overall goal was to provide “more housing, better regulation and greater aid.”
However, it remains unclear if the plan put forth by Sánchez’s minority coalition would pass in parliament.
Here’s a look at what’s happening:
Spain’s housing affordability crisis
Like most rich countries, Spain is in the throes of a growing housing affordability problem. Skyrocketing rents are particularly acute in cities like Barcelona and Madrid, where incomes have failed to keep up, especially for young people. Housing prices are also steadily rising, especially in cities and coastal areas.
Rental prices have also been driven up by short-term contracts mainly offered for tourists. Spain sees more tourists than almost any country in the world, having received more than 88.5 million visitors in 2024. Tourism is one of the country’s key economic drivers.
The negative aspects of mass tourism have caused tension at times between visitors and residents concerned about rising costs, the proliferation of short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb, and water supplies that can be stretched in some parts of the country, including the Canary and Balearic Islands.
Last year, protesters took to the streets on various occasions across the country to express their frustrations about the growth of tourism and high rents. Barcelona’s town hall has pledged to completely eliminate all short-term rentals to tourists in the coming years.
“What citizens expect from us here is action,” Spanish Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez told reporters on Tuesday about the plan.
Peter Waldkirch, director of Abundant Housing Vancouver, tells BC Today guest host Dan Burritt how the home-flipping tax ties into the province’s affordability crisis, while B.C. Real Estate Association chief economist Brendon Ogmundson details the unintended consequences of implementing the tax.
Curbing foreigners from buying houses in Spain
Spain plans to limit the number of homes foreigners purchase by raising taxes on properties bought by non-European Union residents by up to 100 per cent.
Non-EU residents bought 27,000 properties in Spain in 2023, Sánchez said while announcing the plan, “not to live in” but “to make money from.”
Sánchez didn’t provide a timeline or details on how he plans to implement the tax.
Some of the other measures put forth
Spain plans to build more public housing and allocate around two million square metres of residential land to a newly created public housing agency.
Other proposed measures include higher taxes on holiday rentals, tax breaks and protections for landlords who provide affordable housing, and amending laws to speed up construction processes and expand the availability of land for private construction.
Why is housing politically important in Spain?
The rising cost of living has driven voter discontent across many wealthy countries in recent years, including the United States.
But as one of Europe’s leading Socialist politicians, the housing crunch is a crucial question for Sánchez to resolve as he tries to keep his left-wing minority coalition afloat after winning another four-year term in 2023.
Also, according to the Spanish Constitution, all Spaniards have the right to enjoy a “decent and adequate” home. In theory, at least, the government has a duty to allow citizens to exercise that right.