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RENTING

Spain needs to build 1.2 million affordable rental homes in a decade

The current shortage of housing in some areas of Spain means that 761,000 affordable rental properties and 442,000 social housing units need to be built in the next 10 years to meet demand, a new study has warned.

Published: 25 October 2023 13:24 CEST
Spain needs to build 1.2 million affordable rental homes in a decade
Construction of more homes is needed to meet demand in Spain. Photo: CESAR MANSO / AFP

According to a new report by real estate developer Culmia in conjunction with social research and consulting firm Gad3, around 761,000 new well-priced rental properties will be needed over the next decade to meet demand in Spain, plus an additional 442,000 social housing units.

The report specifies that this will be needed to satisfy demand, relax current market prices, and reduce the amount that households currently allocate to rent, which is currently on average 40 percent of their income.

The investment required to undertake these new developments stands at €108 billion (approximately €142,000 per home), of which 76 percent would come from private investment and only 24 percent from the public sector.

By region, Catalonia, Madrid, Andalusia and Valencia are the ones that require the most affordable housing and are also among the most populated.

Catalonia is the region that will need the most housing to meet demand, with a total of 225,000 reasonably priced rental homes in the next ten years. This will require a public investment of €1.01 billion, according to the report, due to the fact that private investment there is higher. 

READ ALSO: Why there are half a million new homes in Spain that no one wants to buy

This is much less than what is needed in the region of Madrid, despite the fact that it will cost the capital region more. According to the report, the Madrid region needs 174,000 new affordable rental homes in the next decade, with a public investment that will reach €5.4 billion.

Andalusia is another region that requires more affordable rental housing. The 85,000 new units needed there will require an investment of €4.5 billion.

Valencia follows, also with 85,000 homes needed and an investment of €3.2 billion. Finally, the Canary Islands will need 46,000 homes with an investment of €2.4 billion.

Housing production in Spain has fallen by 86 percent compared to its highest rate in 2006. Around 80,000 homes are built per year and the national market is near the bottom of Europe in terms of public housing construction.

Of the total housing production, only 10 percent corresponds to protected housing and of that percentage, the majority (80 percent) comes solely from private investment.

READ ALSO: How Spain plans to address its huge lack of social housing

The report shows that if the same investment was given by the government, public and private collaboration would increase the production of public housing by 72 percent, going from 442,000 affordable homes to 761,000.

The creation of 150,000 new homes per year is expected in the most populated municipalities of the country, meaning that every year there will be a deficit of 20,000 affordable homes in certain areas. 

According to the report entitled ‘Access to Housing and Affordable Rental Needs’, those households with salaries between €1,000 and €2,000 per month are those that have the highest degree of vulnerability, with a disproportionate amount of their salary going to rent –  50 percent in some cases. It is this group that will be the main beneficiaries of these new affordable homes.

The lack of 1.2 million rental properties does seem high, and Culmia does have vested interests in such a gargantuan task as one of the main developers in social housing in the country, but similar studies such as that conducted by Atlas Real Estate Analytics in 2023 put the figure needed as even higher: 1.83 million units.

One of the main paradoxes is that Spain does have many empty properties, but they are not located in the provinces that need them.

For example, in the provinces of Ourense, Ferrol, and Ponferrada in Galicia and Ciudad Real in Castilla-La Mancha, in addition to their surroundings, there is actually a surplus of houses.

READ ALSO: What are Spain’s plans to charge owners of empty homes more tax?

A report by UVE Valoraciones, a society associated with the Bank of Spain, states that there are 433,000 empty houses in Spain, but there are 13 provinces in the country that have a shortage of properties.

“Lack of housing is not a national problem, it is a problem in certain areas,” says Germán Pérez Barrio, president of the appraiser who authored the UVE report.

READ ALSO – Renting in Spain: Why it’s become very hard to find a flat to share

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PROPERTY

BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Though many people hang laundry, plants, and flags from their balcony, in Spain the rules on what you can and can't do on 'el balcón' are not well-known.

Published: 8 May 2024 17:13 CEST
BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Imagine the scene: you’ve just bought or signed the lease on your dream apartment. It’s bright and airy, with plenty of space, and even has a nice-sized balcony to get some fresh air on. You can do whatever you want there, right? 

Not exactly. In Spain the rules on what you can and can’t do on a balcony (even if it’s private) depend on a few factors, namely the regional and local rules, as well as getting the approval of the building’s homeowner’s association – known in Spain as la comunidad.

Some of them might just surprise you.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

There are four main things or activities on balconies that could potentially put you on the wrong side of the local rules and even get you fined: barbecues, plants, laundry, and flags.

In all cases (even if you don’t think you’re breaking any rules) you’ll generally need to consider two things: firstly, does this affect or change the building’s façade? And secondly: will la comunidad allow it?

Barbecues

In Spain there is no national law prohibiting barbecues on private property, so in principle it is legal as long as the barbecue is lit in a private space such as your own balcony, garden or terrace, and not a shared space.

Often in Spain, the roof (usually referred to as la terrazza) is a shared space people use for storage and hanging their laundry, so be sure to check with the comunidad.

In terms of your own balcony, however, although there’s no law saying outright you can’t have a barbecue, you’ll need to take into account the rules and regulations in force in each locality or region. There may also be specific rules within the building that long-term homeowners have developed over the years.

As we will see, many of these low-level regulations are delegated to local governments and town halls in Spain, so the answer to these sorts of questions is usually: it depends where you are.

However, according to Article 7 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law, “the owner and the occupant of the flat or premises are not allowed to carry out in it or in the rest of the property activities prohibited in bylaws, which are harmful to the property or which contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illegal activities.”

This basically gives your neighbours the right to complain about noise, smells, smoke and any possible fire risk in or around their building, which barbecues could plausibly fall under.

As with co-living anywhere in the world, regardless of the regional or local rules, employ some common sense: be reasonable, listen to neighbour’s concerns and take up any disputes with the President of la comunidad.

READ ALSO: What you need to know before having a barbecue in Spain

Plants

Again, with plants the responsibility falls on each local authority to set the rules. In Spain, most regions and town halls state that, as long as the architectural or structural elements of the building are not changed or weakened in any way, putting plants on your balcony is permitted.

However, note that many terraces and balconies do have maximum weight regulations that must be respected in order to guarantee their safety, which is 200kg per square metre. If this figure is exceeded (and it can be proved) you could theoretically be fined.

Laundry

Laundry lines criss-crossing the streets might be one of the more picturesque images of Spanish life, but the people doing it might actually be breaking the rules.

How do you know? You guessed it, it depends where you. You’ll need to check with your local authority on this one, though municipal regulations in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia all regulate hanging laundry from your balcony, which is again outlined in the Horizontal Property Law.

This principally seems to be because it affects the façade of the building (a common theme when it comes to balcony rules in Spain).

In places with rules about hanging laundry from balconies, you could be fined up to 750 euros if you don’t comply with the rules.

However, according to Foto Casa, even if you live in an area where there are no bans or penalties against hanging laundry on the balcony, you’ll still likely need the permission of la comunidad.

READ MORE: Spain’s weirdest laws that foreigners should know about

What about flags?

Whether it be the Spanish flag, the Catalan, Valencian or Andalusian flags, or LGBT, trade union or football team flags, flags proudly hanging from balconies is another mainstay of Spanish life.

It’s also one of the more controversial ones too, especially within comunidad meetings. Hanging flags on the balcony, as well as allegedly altering the aesthetics and security of the building (the same concern as with laundry) often has ideological connotations that can cause conflict.

Again, as with laundry, hanging flags on the balcony will require the approval of all the owners within the community, something that must be agreed at a meeting, as per the Horizontal Property Law.

However, if the flag is placed inside the property, as it is a private property, fellow homeowners cannot oppose it, even if it is visible from the street, according to Foto Casa.

Nudity 

Article of 185 of Spain’s Penal Code only considers being naked at home to be obscene exhibitionism and sexual provocation if it affects minors, in which case it is punishable with a fine or up to a year in prison.

Therefore, you could technically sunbathe shirtless or naked on your balcony in most cases without getting into trouble, although it won’t necessarily go down well with your neighbours and/or flatmates and you be reprimanded for it.

READ ALSO: Can you go shirtless or wear a bikini in the street in Spain?

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