One of the Catalan government's experts on speculative buying criticizes the proposal from the PSC and Comuns.

BarcelonaThe budget agreement between the Government and the Commons, which foresees the prohibition of speculative housing purchasesThe proposal has been met with strong disapproval from homeowners' associations and business organizations, as well as from tenants' groups, who consider it timid. To the voices critical of the text, which proposes amending the urban planning law to empower municipalities to introduce veto power, a new voice was added this Friday: that of Jaime Palomera, from the Barcelona Institute for Urban Research (IDRA), one of the experts who participated in the Catalan government's working group on the matter. and that he prepared a report in favor Regarding the measure, IDRA stated in a position paper drafted by Palomera himself, as confirmed by ARA, "The current proposal on speculative housing purchases will hardly achieve its objective." What flaws does he see in the measure? Firstly, it doesn't prevent the purchase of homes to resell them shortly afterward at a higher price, which he says will generate more tension in the market. The agreed-upon bill introduces mechanisms to try to prevent this: for example, by requiring large property owners to register their address at a property to ensure they purchased it for their own use, or by limiting the number of second homes a person can own. It also requires large property owners and companies that buy entire buildings to put them all on the rental market according to price indices, but it doesn't prevent their resale.

This Thursday, the Comuns party warned that, to ensure the legal soundness of the regulation, they could not regulate sales. The prohibition is implemented through urban planning regulations and the permitted uses of newly acquired properties, via special plans. Urban planning is the exclusive responsibility of the Generalitat (Catalan government), while the foundations of contracts and civil law fall under the jurisdiction of the State. This is why this approach was chosen. However, Comuns is confident that the tax increase they agreed upon last year with the Government for large property owners and those who purchase entire buildings will have an impact.with an increase in the property transfer tax (ITP) from 10% to 20%— to discourage these operations.

Empty homes

Another problem, according to Palomera, is that the agreed-upon text "does not prevent the purchase of homes to keep them empty as a speculative asset." Although Catalan regulations penalize this practice in the case of large property owners, inspection problems persist. Furthermore, the law will not have retroactive effect, so it has no bearing on the situation of currently vacant apartments. "Urban planning and tax measures must be approved to ensure the social function of under-occupied homes or those diverted to non-residential uses," warns IDRA in its statement. In fact, in its report, Palomera already cautioned that limiting speculative purchases should be part of a comprehensive framework and combined with other measures. For example, imposing stricter taxes on individuals or companies that accumulate real estate, conditioning access to financing on the social function of housing, increasing the number of inspectors, or recovering apartments that are currently used for other purposes, such as business activities, or that are vacant. "Demand is artificially inflated by actors who don't need housing," Palomera concluded.

IDRA's latest complaint is that, with the PSC and Comuns' proposal, individuals, public administrations, and social entities will continue to compete with "speculative demand in the sales market." In other words, since there isn't a total ban on large property owners buying—they are allowed to do so in some circumstances—this could "continue fueling price increases and the dynamics of property concentration": fewer single-family homeowners, and more multiple owners and large property owners. However, the proposed law prohibits companies from acquiring apartments—they must acquire entire buildings—precisely with this idea in mind.

Clash with the Ministry of Public Works

While the IDRA (Institute for Housing and Land Development) and the Rental Companies' Union believe the government and the Comuns party have fallen short, Foment del Treball (Catalan employers' association) believes they have gone too far. In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, the president of the Catalan employers' association, Josep Sánchez Llibre, described the government's housing policies as "pro-communist" and accused Illa of trying to secure Comuns' votes for the budget "in exchange for violating the fundamental rights of Catalan citizens, such as private property." "I am extremely worried about Catalonia's image abroad," he declared. In this regard, he criticized "the incompetence of recent Catalan governments in housing matters," including the current one, for being "incapable of producing affordable housing for citizens." "We are facing economic degrowth policies that do nothing to improve the image of President Illa and the Catalan government," he concluded.

This is not the first clash that Fomento has had with the Govern. The Catalan employers' association has been escalating its rhetoric against the PSC government. As the legislature has progressed, the Socialists have increasingly favored interventionist measures in the housing sector and specific tax increases—for example, with the tourist tax or taxes on large property owners. Tensions between employers' associations and the government reached their peak when Sánchez Llibre himself criticized the agreed financing modelwhich he deemed "insufficient." It then emerged that Isla had booed the Minister of Public Works for that stance. This Friday, Sánchez Llibre commented on the conversation he had about this issue and the "major scandal" that erupted within the Balearic Government over his position.