Ban the purchase of housing

In recent weeks, one of the major political proposals to "save" the housing market has been, among others, "to prohibit the purchase of homes that are not suitable for living in, that is, for speculation." My question is: have we lost all common sense?

That there is a serious housing problem is beyond doubt. However, prohibiting the purchase of private property... on what basis? And above all,, What exactly does "speculate" mean?Is speculation owning a second home for weekends? Or is it buying an apartment to rent out and supplement my retirement income? Or perhaps it's owning five apartments, or fifteen? The risk of such an ambiguous definition is immense: it could disrupt the housing market and completely alter how we understand private property.

Today we find ourselves in a scenario where, with current regulations, new rental contracts have fallen by 20% in the first quarter of 2025, the worst figure since 2010. Prices continue to rise, and only 3.5% of signed contracts are for properties being rented for the first time. In other words, the market is contracting while demand is increasing. Many landlords are choosing not to rent because they see more problems than benefits. In this context, is the next step to further limit supply? If we go back to basic economics, we know that when supply falls and demand remains constant, prices rise..

In fact, one only needs to look at the Netherlands: the idea isn't new, but rather a copy of what our neighbors have done. A year after implementing a similar measure, rental prices have increased by 4%.. Do we really think anything different will happen in Spain? Or are elections just approaching and a new political slogan is needed? Mixing economics and elections is even riskier than defining the term "speculate."