2023-09-21 02:03:58
Madrid and Barcelona, two of the cities in which significant rental housing supply problems are concentrated, have a large stock of empty houses. Specifically, in Barcelona there are 75,476 units, while in the capital the figure rises to 97,178, according to data collected by Tinsa Research in its report “Analysis of empty housing in Spain”. A more than respectable amount that, however, can do little to alleviate the housing problems, especially rental problems, that affect both cities.
As Tinsa recalls, the mobilization of empty housing has recently been proposed as a potential short-term solution to alleviate the tensions caused by the housing shortage in the main capitals. The Housing Law includes the possibility of implementing a surcharge of up to 150% on the Real Estate Tax (IBI) on empty homes to stimulate their entry onto the market, especially for rent.
Making a large estimate based on the volume of main homes and the INE’s projection of homes, the appraiser calculates that it would be necessary to add around 40,000 homes annually to the aggregate supply of the six main Spanish provincial capitals, Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza; to cover its expected growth in the next 15 years.
Empty for some reason
A priori, if there are currently 172,654 empty homes in Madrid and Barcelona – 266,000 if the focus is expanded to the six cities – it would seem that their mobilization could help alleviate the problem of shortage in the short term while adjusting the medium-term construction. However, Tinsa warns, “these empty homes are blocked for some reason, whether due to uninhabitable conditions, associated legal processes or, simply, because their owners keep them off the market (generally due to force majeure, as it does not usually compensate have an unused home)”. Others, he adds, are off the market due to their location. Thus, he concludes, “its short-term mobilization is not clear.”
In recent years, the number of units of this type of housing has been drastically reduced in large cities. Specifically, empty housing has decreased by 32% in the Spanish capitals in the last twenty years, a figure that contrasts with the 24% increase experienced nationally, according to data from Tinsa. Empty housing, according to the appraiser, decreases at a greater rate the more activity the capital concentrates. This, he adds, “is consistent with the direction of population movements towards employment generating poles.”
Drastic reduction
In these years, the six main capitals have reduced their volume of empty housing by 40%, going from 444,000 units added between the six cities to 266,000. At the same time, 376,000 newly built homes have been added to the residential stock in these locations. Given that the number of homes increased by 508,000 and that the main residence accounts for 84% of the use of the stock in these capitals, Tinsa concludes that the reduction of 178,000 empty homes in the last two decades has been absorbed mainly by the first-class market. living place.
For Tinsa, more than giving away empty homes, effective solutions involve increasing the residential supply in the most stressed locations that best suits demand, relying on public-private collaboration and always maintaining legal security. and the right to private property.
Solutions
Given this approach, the appraiser adds that it is necessary to “rethink the current city model. Anticipating and redefining the territorial planning models around the capitals with the highest concentration of population would help prevent the current shortage of affordable housing, as well as the disadvantages associated with megalopolises, including environmental problems and lower quality of life. Likewise, she adds that promoting a model of territorial growth distributed in secondary capitals, favoring investment for the creation of centers of activity and employment, “would help to avoid excessively concentrating the population in a small number of main capitals.”
#empty #homes #serve #solve #rental #problem