2023-05-26 08:00:30
BarcelonaXavier Vilajoana receives the ARA in the lobby of the Gran Via site of Fira de Barcelona, where the Construmat was held for three days. The salon has closed this edition with more than 15,000 visitors, far from the large numbers before the crisis.
How does the construction industry get to this appointment?
— The sector is in a good moment, accumulating sustained growth in recent years, during the pandemic it was not the most affected sector. With the energy and raw materials crisis, it seemed that things could get complicated, but really once again it has shown that it is a very resilient sector that adapts very well to every circumstance.
The latest Euroconstruct report showed a year of stagnation, but construction grew by 4.5% in the first quarter in Catalonia, twice as much as in Spain.
— I think it will be a year of mild growth, but it is true that we are in an economic situation of some uncertainty, it is true that interest rates and inflation are not helping, but it is also true that we are at maximum employment and growth has increased in Catalonia and Spain. I believe that there will be no stoppage. If you also add that 10,000 fewer homes are built than would be needed every year, which means that everything that is started is going out… Obviously with prudence. 2023 will be a year of smooth positive evolution.
10,000 fewer homes are built than would be needed each year”
First the increase in the price of raw materials and now interest rates. Which sub-sector of construction will be most affected?
— I must understand that the public works will not be affected. It is true that the update of prices is being discussed, if the administration should issue a decree to correct this increase in raw materials and costs. The office sector maybe yes, but also because we came from two extremely good years in the tertiary sector. And in the residential developer sector I think that it will continue to be sold and produced at a fairly sustained rate. People need houses to live in and there are very few of them, and as long as this continues it is difficult to think that there could be a stoppage.
The salon begins by focusing on sustainability, and this involves more sustainable raw materials, such as wood, straw or cork. Is the sector ready for this transformation?
— The sector is advancing very quickly, you don’t know if the chicken or the egg comes first. It is true that here the administrations have a lot to say when it comes to facilitating the implementation of this type of industry. The Catalan administration is certainly not one of the most helpful in this regard, and this is a problem. As long as facilities are not put in place to implement this type of industry, it will cost more, but the sector is mentalized, more and more are being made. Another issue is to go to the root: we should have urban planning more adapted to current needs.
One of the determining elements to carry it out is the Next Generation funds, but it seems that the implementation is going slower than expected.
— It depends on the leg we are dealing with. The Next Generation are mainly based on the rehabilitation of existing buildings, urban regeneration, which depends on the administrations, and the promotion of affordable rental housing on public land. Of these three, the one that costs the most to transport is the first, because it depends on the communities of owners, who advance an amount and then they are told whether they will receive the subsidy or not. In the third leg, that of official protection on public land, there have been twice as many requests compared to the existing funds, that is to say, on the one hand, it is positive news, but on the other: where were all these soils that have now surfaced to make housing for public rent? Now that there is the icing on the cake of some Next Generation funds, a lot of floors that could have been developed years ago are popping up like mushrooms.
In just a few weeks, the Spanish government has made four announcements on housing and the Generalitat has promised 10,000 new social rental flats. How do you rate these moves?
— These are movements that are perfectly understandable for the moment. In fact, the housing law that has been approved had been discussed for six months, and suddenly two months later it was published. I think it’s a mistake, because they continue to confirm that politicians only think about the next election when they should be thinking about the next generations, and if you want to think about the next generations, you have to make a housing plan thought out and agreed upon by all the parts It cannot be that the productive sector of housing in this country is not consulted.
They always talk about legal security. Does this law contribute to you?
— It does not contribute at all. Note that the same law provides that certain of its articles enter into force after its publication, but, on the other hand, others do not because they are pending an index that will have to be made. Then each community will have to decide whether or not to apply it. They almost force us to study law to be able to do any activity in our sector, and that seems to me to be a mistake. In the housing sector, as in the world of football, everyone thinks they know a lot and in the end those who do know are the professionals, those who have been doing both sheltered and free housing for many years. No one can teach us how to make sheltered housing.
In the housing sector, as in football, everyone thinks they know a lot.”
The sector also warns of unwanted effects.
— It feels like the market that is being legislated is not known at all: the rental market, for the most part, is made up of small owners, people who have one or three flats, but here in this law we are comparing someone who it has five floors, which may or may not be mortgaged, with a fund that has 200. This is conceptually an animal. But small landlords have always seen rental housing as retirement savings and these small landlords haven’t raised prices by 15% or 20%. They prefer to reduce the rent a little rather than have one rotation after another, what they want is peace of mind, that their rent pays them the installment of the mortgage they have so that when retirement arrives they have a supplement, and that is not understanding how the rental market works.
#housing #politicians #elections #generations