Salvador Illa is considering banning speculative home purchases.

BarcelonaThe Catalan government is open to severe intervention in the housing market. Given the current crisis caused by rising rental prices and the difficulties the Catalan population is having in accessing an apartment, the president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, stated during the control session this Wednesday that the government will study the possibility of prohibiting speculative home purchases. He also stated that it would limit the number of homes per person. The anti-capitalist MP Laure Vega demanded action along these lines, and the president responded that he himself had asked the Minister of Housing, Silvia Paneque, to have the department study the matter. "I've been open to studying everything; now, studying it means studying it. We are already studying new measures like the ones you're proposing here today, and we must be certain that they are viable and effective, and if we have it, we will communicate it," Illa asserted, although government sources later emphasized that it is only a matter of studying all the proposals.

This has been made public in recent weeks. a report commissioned by the Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan (PEMB) which concludes that limiting speculative home sales and allowing only one apartment to be purchased to live in could be legal in areas with a stressed market, based on the Constitution and urban planning laws.

Outstretched hand

Vega highlighted the aforementioned report, which stated that "it is perfectly legal and constitutional to prohibit speculative buying." "Is your government in favor of prohibiting speculative buying? Are you willing to limit the number of homes a person can own while there are still those who don't have one in Catalonia?" the CUP member said, emphasizing that there is a population survey in which a majority of citizens, including Socialist voters, are calling for a restriction on the number of homes per person. An extreme measure that would entail total market intervention within a European liberal democracy, not exempt from political and legal disputes.

Illa made it clear that the executive is already on top of it, in an attitude of reaching out to the CUP, with whom already agreed on housing measures"I haven't overlooked either of the two issues you mentioned. Neither the report on speculative purchases nor the survey," he said first. In fact, he commented that "the respective government departments are studying, especially the first report" and warned that the Government intends to "put housing as a right first and foremost" and "take whatever measures are legally pertinent and possible to promote this."

"We have by no means closed ourselves off from studying any measure, but we are willing to study them thoroughly and proceed with certainty," he stated. However, "anything that can be done with a certain degree of realism and plausibility could be an effective policy to guarantee housing as a right," without specifying what or closing any doors. Although the CUP party has asked him to take action and not just "study," the president reiterated that the executive has already made a move, and defended the agreement with Sareb, the regulation on apartment rentals, the ban on tourist apartments owned by the Barcelona City Council, which is controlled by the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), and the fact that he is open to further "intervention measures." "My government has sent clear messages on housing. We are not just studying," the Prime Minister emphasized. On another note, also related to housing, the Parliament also endorsed the first step in processing a proposal by Junts, which would allow homeowners' associations to initiate legal proceedings against occupied homes when they "disrupt coexistence, public order, or endanger the safety or integrity of the property."

Contrast with the Spanish government?

Although Isla has opened up future scenarios that may go beyond what has been carried out until now in housing policies, sources from the Spanish government maintain that what Isla has said is "the same" as the position of the Spanish government. Thus, they assert that they have already banned the Golden Visa, the special visa for real estate investments, that they have raised the debate to European bodies and that there is "a proposal to tax 100% of the purchase of housing by non-resident foreigners." The Spanish government is based on the premise that "housing is for living and not for speculation" and that "all measures aimed at this end will be activated, but with rigor and legal certainty." In any case, Illa has said that he will study new restrictive measures in Catalonia in a context in which Sumar has challenged the PSOE by asking to remove the Minister of Housing., Isabel Rodríguez, for not promoting initiatives that are "bold" enough. Likewise, Comuns is pressing for the fulfillment of numerous commitments in this field sealed in the Catalan investiture pact amidst disagreements over the PSC's 'brick' model.