These new measures are added to those already approved since 2018, with which this Government will consolidate the fifth pillar of the welfare state.
Pedro Sánchez has announced a battery of 12 new measures “strength and many of them unprecedented”, with three priority objectives to strengthen the right to affordable housing: more housing, better regulation and more aid. During his speech at the closing ceremony of the forum ‘Housing, fifth pillar of the Welfare State’, at the Railway Museum, in Madrid, Pedro Sánchez reiterated the Government’s commitment to solve the housing problem with more resources and new regulations, along with the joint action of all the sectors concerned that operate in the construction of housing.
The event was attended by the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, as well as the first vice president and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero; the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen; the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente; the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría; the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu; the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres; the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo; the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo; the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz; and the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, Óscar López.
Pedro Sánchez has stressed that access to housing has become “one of the main challenges faced by European societies, such as the Spanish one.” “The West faces a decisive challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, that of rich landlords and poor tenants,” after housing prices in Europe have increased by 48% in the last decade, almost twice as much as household income. “We are facing a serious problem, of enormous social and economic implications, which requires a determined response from society as a whole, with public institutions on the front line,” he emphasised.
After reviewing the Government’s intense action in the last seven years in terms of housing, Pedro Sánchez has indicated that “it is not enough” because “the situation is critical”, so he has announced “a coherent, determined and firm step of our housing policy, with 12 forceful measures – many of them unprecedented -“, which will be launched with three priority objectives: more housing, better regulation and greater aid.
State Housing and Sareb for the new Public Housing Company
Minister Óscar Puente, the first vice president, María Jesús Montero, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the third vice president, Sara Aagesen, and ministers Isabel Rodríguez and Pilar Alegría | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo and Borja Puig de la Bellacasa
As for the housing figure, he has indicated that Spain has only 2.5% of public housing, far behind member states such as France (14%) or the Netherlands (34%), because many protected housings went to the free market and ceased to fulfill their social function. Therefore, it has announced that the General Administration of the State has just transferred more than 3,300 homes and almost 2 million square meters of residential land to the newly created Public Housing Company that will be used to build thousands of protected homes on an affordable rental basis. In addition, throughout this first half of the year, the Public Housing Company will begin to incorporate the more than 30,000 homes that SAREB currently has, 13,000 of them immediately.
At the same time, a legal mechanism will be established for the new Public Housing Company to have priority in the purchase of housing and land, and another to ensure that all housing built by the State will indefinitely maintain its public ownership. In this way, action will be taken so that “what is built or rehabilitated with the money of the Spaniards, remains, always, of the Spaniards. Of his children and grandchildren, and it does not end up in the hands of vulture funds and large speculators,” he added. At the same time, the promotion and construction of affordable housing in public-private collaboration will continue to be promoted, reforming the Land Law and the 6 billion euros in ICO credits and guarantees that were launched in August and that will serve to build 25,000 new homes will be deployed.
New Housing PERTE
As a novelty, it has announced that the Government of Spain will create a new strategic project, the PERTE de Viviendas, aimed at promoting innovation and modernisation of the industrialised and modular construction sector, so that in Spain it can build houses in less time and with less costs. This new HOUSING PERTE will be located in the province of Valencia, where “it will be able to contribute to the reconstruction of the economic fabric affected by DANA and generate added value for all of Spain.”
Public guarantees, rehabilitation and exemption from personal income tax to owners
Another of the points on which Sánchez has focused is the need to mobilise existing housing with three new measures, which involve the creation of a system of public guarantees that will protect both owners and tenants who participate in affordable rent. This system has already been successfully tested in France and in Spain it will begin this 2025 with owners who rent to people under 35 years of age.
A rehabilitation program for empty homes will also be launched to use them for rent at an affordable price. Aid will be granted to those people who reform an apartment to put it in affordable rent for at least 5 years. Finally, the Government will propose to the Congress of Deputies the approval of a 100% exemption from personal income tax for owners who rent their home according to the Reference Price Index, without the need for them to be in stressed areas.
Regulatory improvement in tourist apartments, socimis and foreign purchase
The Executive will bring to Parliament a tax reform so that tourist apartments “tax as what they are: a business”, promoting within the framework of the new European directive on VAT the application of a taxation to tourist rental that equates it to that of other economic activities. Likewise, the regime of tax advantages that the so-called socimis have will be changed so that they only apply to the promotion of affordable rental housing and, after a thorough study, the purchase of homes by non-resident non-EU foreigners will be limited. Specifically, the tax burden that they will have to pay in case of purchase will increase up to 100% of the value of the property, in line with countries such as Denmark or Canada. (CAB Spain note* This is not reference to those purchasing an habitual home in Spain). In addition, he has reported that the regulation that persecutes fraud in seasonal rentals will be tightened and a fund will be created so that regional and municipal governments can strengthen inspections.
New State Housing Plan in 2026
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the forum. | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo and Borja Puig de la Bellacasa
The head of the Executive has remarked that Spain “needs public intervention, public-private collaboration and perseverance”, for which, while the structural measures give results, aid will continue to be granted, as already happened in the last legislature with the implementation of rental aid, purchase and rehabilitation for 20 billion euros, benefiting more than 1.5 million households. Pedro Sánchez has announced that these aid programs will be maintained and increased, which will be included in a new State Housing Plan for 2026. This new Plan will pay special attention to the elderly, young people, vulnerable groups and people with disabilities and those who live in degraded areas. In summary, “more housing, better regulation and greater aid for access to housing,” said Pedro Sánchez, who reiterated that “the Government of Spain is committed to a housing policy that unites tenants and owners.”
The president stressed that the housing situation in Spain “is aggravated” by the absence of a state housing policy for almost a decade, after the real estate bubble generated during the financial crisis in which “speculators were allowed to do business.” “The worst of all is that they don’t regret it, on the contrary, they want to go back to that disastrous policy, that of the ball and that of the puncture of the real estate bubble and then that the State comes and pays for the broken dishes,” he censored.
In the face of the “unfair and failed” model, he has defended the Government’s “valiant and social” policy developed in the last seven years, in which the state budget for housing has been multiplied by eight; the first Housing Law has been approved; guarantees for the purchase of the first home and rental bonuses of 250 euros per month have been granted to more than 66,000 young people. Added to this is the aid for rehabilitation worth 3 billion, another 3.6 billion to combat homelessness, the elimination of ‘golden visas’, new tools for neighborhood communities to limit the proliferation of tourist apartments and the creation of the single register of seasonal accommodation. They also highlight the extension of the moratorium on evictions and the suspension of mortgage evictions until 2028 and the program of 4 billion euros in financing and guarantees of the ICO that, in just two months, has reached 2,000 million, which will allow the construction of about 20,000 homes, the “same amount as those financed by the ICO in the previous 35 years.”
CAB SPAIN NOTE* The success of the proposals depends on whether the government has enough support in Congress and, if necessary, in the Senate.
Even if approved, implementation may take time, as secondary regulations and administrative frameworks often need to be developed.
Controversial measures like a 100% purchase tax may face resistance, legal challenges, or calls for further clarification
So, while the government has announced its intentions, these reforms are not yet law and will need to undergo the legislative process before they can take effect.
We thank the Spanish government for this press release.