In 2008, Catalonia had 7.29 million inhabitants. In 2025, 8.21 million. In the case of Spain, in 2008 there were 46.1 million inhabitants, and in the first quarter of this year, there were 49.8 million. A population increase that has coincided, precisely, with a major decline in housing construction. To get an idea, in 2008, 71,000 homes were completed in Catalonia. But the real estate bubble burst, banks turned off the credit tap, and construction fell to a minimum. Despite a small upturn in recent years, in 2025, just over 6,500 new homes were completed in Catalonia. The figures for the country as a whole are proportional. From the great boom before the bubble, it also fell to a minimum, and in recent years there has been some recovery, but it is insufficient.

The so-called vulture funds and, by extension, what are also termed large holders in terms of housing, have been in the spotlight throughout the week following the debate opened both socially and politically by the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal in Madrid. But, do large holders really have that much weight in the Catalan and Spanish housing market? Can they set the price of rent? In reality, the structure of housing ownership suggests that their weight is rather relative because, despite the investments made by some relevant funds after the bursting of the real estate bubble, the fact is that the stock of housing in the hands of large holders is rather small.

Investment funds want to sell the apartments they own in Catalonia. That is the belief of the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque. And she already has a formula for purchasing these apartments: joint ownership, an idea launched by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, in the general policy debate in Parliament this week, and which the Territory team has been working on for some time.

The Community of Madrid already accounts for 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP, an indicator that measures the size of an economy) of the State, while Catalonia remains in second place with 18.9%, according to data published this Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). These data show growth last year in Madrid's economy (2.7%) slightly above the Spanish average (2.6%), while Catalonia grew below it (2.5%).

There are already housing developers who have decided to convert the buildings they were building as rental apartments –built to rent– into properties to sell the apartments, following the new housing decrees approved by the Spanish government after the Maricarmen case, as stated by the president of the Association of Promoters and Constructors of Spain (APCE) and also president of APCE Catalonia, Xavier Vilajona.

The listed socimi Colonial, which until now only dedicated itself to the office building market, has entered the student residence market with the creation of a joint venture with the British group Vita, which will begin with a portfolio of three assets located in Madrid valued at 1 billion euros, the company reported this Wednesday. In a first phase, Vita Group contributes to the joint venture Vita Student Oria South, which opened its doors this September; Oria North will join in 2027, and Santa Hortensia, one of the projects in Colonial SFL's urban transformation plan, will be added after the delivery of the assets, scheduled for 2028.

The war in the Middle East following the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran and the subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have caused an increase in the price of oil, which has already translated into an increase in fuel prices and, in turn, an increase in inflation in much of the world. Furthermore, the situation is aggravated by the attacks by the Houthis of Yemen in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the closure of the East-West pipeline of Saudi Arabia, which further hinders the supply of oil from the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world.

Catalonia now has a roadmap to decarbonize its industry. It was presented this Friday by the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, at an event at the DFactory in the Zona Franca, Catalonia's major hub for Industry 4.0. Following the work carried out by the Catalan Energy Institute (Icaen), which analyzed all sectors and subsectors, the conclusion is that decarbonizing Catalan industry will require an additional investment—that is, beyond what companies already spend in their normal operations—of 9.5 billion euros. This investment should be made between now and 2050.

In 2018, with Luca de Meo as president and Wayne Griffiths as vice president of marketing and sales, Seat took the step: it launched a new brand, Cupra. Only two years later, Griffiths, already president of Seat, said that the new brand would close that year, 2020, with a turnover of 1 billion euros, practically 10% of the entire group. We journalists received it with skepticism, but that is how it was. From that moment on, Cupra has not stopped growing. And last year, in 2025, the new brand already sold more cars than the historic –it is over 70 years old– Seat.

The cuts at the Volkswagen group have already been approved by the supervisory board. However, it is not clear what will happen to the group's Spanish brand, Seat. While the German press reported on Thursday that the intention is for the Seat brand to disappear by 2029 at the latest, this Friday the Martorell-based company claimed its role within the Volkswagen group, but without clarifying in any case what its future will be.

The Volkswagen Group's supervisory board approved the company's restructuring plan this Friday evening, which will involve the elimination of 50,000 jobs in Germany and the possible closure of four factories in the country—Emden, Zwickau, Hanover, and Neckarsulm—by 2030. The meeting's resolution was expected for this Friday, but the company advanced the result on Thursday evening. The group, however, did not explain tonight what the future of the Seat brand, controlled by Volkswagen, will be. The CEO of the Volkswagen Group, Oliver Blume, in a statement, celebrated the unanimous approval of the restructuring plan as a "decisive" signal for the company's future and announced million-euro investments for the coming years. The supervisory board includes representatives from the founding shareholder families, unions, and the government of Lower Saxony.

The Catalan business management and human resources software platform Factorial has acquired the German startup Empion, which specializes in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to talent and human resources management, as part of the Catalan company's international expansion into Germany.

Asabys has co-led a €15 million investment round for iPremom, a molecular diagnostics company dedicated to the early prediction of pregnancy complications. The round was led by Amadeus Capital Partners and also included Apax Ventures.

September 1st marks the beginning of the political, social, and educational year. One could also speak of a new school year for household economies which, in 2026, appears to be tough, with a generalized price increase that directly impacts families' spending power, after a particularly expensive summer mainly due to the rising cost of energy.

The electricity bill has become more expensive by more than 19% this August, despite high sunshine, which has led to increased photovoltaic generation. The causes of the price increase should be sought in an increase in demand, due to continued heatwaves that have boosted air conditioning use, and the rising price of gas, as during hours without solar production, generation with combined gas cycles has soared.

Although the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil has managed to fall below 90 euros this week, this decrease is not reflected in fuel prices. On the contrary, gasoline and diesel prices in Spain continue to rise and have already been increasing for eight consecutive weeks, that is, throughout the summer. Thus, on the eve of the holiday return operation – the State Directorate General of Traffic expects 6.9 million journeys this weekend – fuel prices are the highest of the entire summer and are close to annual highs.

After the extraordinary expenses of the holidays, many families have to face a new impact on their domestic economy: the return to school. Different studies by major consumer organizations place this impact at a minimum of 500 euros per child, although with many differences depending on the community they are in and also on the type of school the children attend. Private schools can triple the cost of public ones.

Almaraz nuclear power plant gains time. The Spanish government authorized this Friday the extension of the lifespan of its two reactors after the favorable report of the Nuclear Safety Council a month ago. Thus, as published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has renewed the operating authorization for units I and II of the plant until June 8, 2030. It should be remembered that, until now, the Extremaduran nuclear power plant had permission to operate one reactor until 2027 and another until 2028, and was the first in the State to be shut down.

If there is a businessman who symbolizes the bursting of the real estate bubble in Spain – which, added to the failure of Lehman Brothers, generated the Great Recession – it is Enrique Bañuelos (Sagunt, 1966). In the Spain of easy credit of the early 2000s, Bañuelos created Astroc, a real estate company whose primary purpose was to buy land to reclassify it. At first, the business was not going badly. In 2006 the company went public and in less than a year its shares went from 6.4 euros per share to over 75. And Bañuelos, until then an unknown businessman, made it onto the Forbes list and made a place for himself among the richest people in the world.

Less housing supply and, therefore, rising prices. These are the forecasts for the housing market made by BBVA Research (the research service of the blue bank) for 2026. Thus, the bank forecasts that purchase and sale transactions will fall by 7.3% in the State as a whole, while prices will rise by an average of 12% in Spain.