![Panoramic view of Barcelona.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 9"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Town councils and developers have submitted 310 plots in the second call for the public land reserve to build the 50,000 affordable rental housing units that Salvador Illa's government wants to add to the market by 2030. According to the Generalitat, they have the capacity to house more than 11,000 apartments.Of the 310 plots, 55 (17.7%) have public or private developers, and in 63 more (20.3%), the owners will be responsible for finding them. On the other hand, in the remaining 192 plots (62%), the Generalitat will have to do so.These plots are distributed in 126 municipalities. 40% of the land is located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, which will concentrate almost 59% of the 11,000 housing units that the Generalitat plans to build in this second batch of plots. In the first call, 670 plots were submitted, with the capacity to build more than 22,000 apartments.The Minister of Territory and Housing, Sílvia Paneque, has assured that Catalonia concentrates "60% of the protected housing construction that is being done in Spain". The President of the Government, Salvador Illa, maintained in October that 31,000 of the 50,000 apartments were already "underway", although, according to the Chamber of Contractors of Public Works of Catalonia (CCOC), only 3,000 have been put out to tender.
The purchase of housing touches highs since 2007
Operations grow slightly during the first semester, after soaring last year
BarcelonaWhile access to housing is consolidating as the main concern for Catalans, sales continue at all-time highs. Between January and June, 57,349 transactions were formalized: it is the first semester with more activity since 2007, just before the real estate bubble burst.
However, the Catalan market remains practically stable compared to the same period last year. Sales are up a testimonial 0.78% and are beginning to show a plateau, after registering an interannual increase of 18.63% in 2025, a record year in the real estate sector. The manager of the Chamber of Urban Property of Barcelona, Òscar Gorgues, argues that the increase in transactions should be proportional to the demographic "growth that is characterizing Catalonia. "The number of households is growing, but not the number of transactions, which means that some people are being left out of the market," he opines.
Gorgues points out that "investors are withdrawing from the market" due to the hardening of the tax burden they have to face for the acquisition of housing. He assures that "end buyers are remaining" – that is, those who want it to live in – but warns that "only those with purchasing power are buying".
New construction boosted the market during the first semester. The second-hand market accounted for practically 80% of purchases – 45,503 homes – despite having 400 fewer transactions than a year ago. In contrast, new construction rose by 7.74%, despite being a minority – 11,846 apartments and houses. The manager of the Chamber of Property points out that new construction "normally" sells before it is finished, so the sales data from these last few weeks reflect "the deliveries of finished apartments". The transactions, however, were closed in the preceding months.
They go down to the whole State
Operations have increased despite the rises in the Euribor –the reference index for interbank loans, which sets the price of mortgages– chained since March, with only a very slight respite, precisely, in June. According to Gorgues, rates "are still at affordable levels", but "an increase could slow down the market". However, he believes that the main stumbling block in the housing market is another: he reiterates, once again, that "there is a supply problem". "You can't sell what doesn't exist," he insists.
In the whole of the State, the number of operations fell and 2.6% fewer sales were registered during the first semester compared to the same period last year. The decrease was similar in the new construction market (-2.78%) and the second-hand market (2.59%). Catalonia accounted for 16.5% of the 347,464 operations formalized at the state level, a proportion practically equal to its share of the population, according to the latest available data, corresponding to January.
In June alone, Catalonia exceeded 9,000 residential operations for the second consecutive month. In this way, it links two consecutive months of increases in registered operations, and avoids the setbacks produced in March and April becoming a downward trend.
