Miquel (a fictional name) is 36 years old and is about to buy an apartment in Barcelona, in the Sarrià neighborhood. His mother "has paid quite a bit more than half of the apartment" and he will take out a mortgage to secure the rest of the financing. "Without my mother's help it wouldn't have been possible, and we had to have many meetings with the bank to see exactly how we would do it," he explains to the ARA.

The 50,000 Plan is the great promise of Salvador Illa's government. Two years after the announcement of the measure, the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, assured, in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio this Friday, that there are "practically" 10,000 apartments "finished," and that 28,000 more are "in projection." The data, however, do not coincide with those held by Catalan builders, who confirm that "there are only 3,000 apartments put out to tender and awarded", in the words of the president of the Chamber of Construction Contractors of Catalonia (CCOC), Lluís Moreno, this same Friday in the ARA.

A big day at the Port of Barcelona. The Chinese company Hutchison Ports officially announced this Thursday the incorporation of two state-of-the-art cranes at the BEST container terminal, which accounts for 42% of the wealth generated by the entire infrastructure. According to the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, "they are much more than just two cranes, they are the difference between being a transit port or a gateway."

The housing crisis affects all of Europe, especially in large cities and the most densely populated areas. According to a study by the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien), 44% of Europeans with an average income level can only afford to buy a property of less than 50 square meters, that is, the equivalent of a one-bedroom apartment or a studio.

The rent cap has taken up almost all the media attention, but the declaration of a stressed residential market area (ZMRT) provides for other instruments to facilitate access to housing. This Wednesday, the Spanish government announced direct subsidies to these territories, as established by the state housing law: it intends to distribute 90 million euros among the five autonomous communities that have applied the measure. Of this figure, Catalonia will receive 60 million, as it concentrates 75% of the population living in an area where the housing market is stressed, and 85.5% of the municipalities.

The summer of historic results in tourism that the sector predicted in spring. This July, spending by foreigners in Catalonia has for the first time exceeded the threshold of 3.7 billion euros, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Tuesday. The increase in total spending has also been reflected in the average consumption of each visitor, which has also reached a new high, surpassing 1,500 euros per stay for the first time.

The Spanish stock exchange operator BME allows Holaluz to list on the stock exchange again from tomorrow, Tuesday. The Catalan company will rejoin the BME Growth market – the stock market for SMEs – once the ministry's procedure for Ecological Transition, which could have resulted in its disqualification as an energy marketer, has been archived.

After a summer with rising fuel prices, this Tuesday the subsidy for diesel will increase to 20 cents per liter. From September 1, the reduction in the hydrocarbon tax on diesel will return to its initial level. This is an initiative that is applied automatically, because the Spanish government foresaw its application if prices were to skyrocket by more than 15% compared to a year ago.

Tourism contributes nearly 12% to Catalonia's GDP, the indicator used worldwide to measure an economy's size and growth. However, who generates this wealth? The sector is made up of 133,752 companies and employs 451,990 people, according to the latest data from the Institute of Statistics of Catalonia (Idescat), corresponding to the end of 2023.

The figure of Rodrigo Rato is the icon of a political and economic era. Rato's story is that of a meteoric rise to the pinnacle of political and economic power, from where he staged a long and agonizing fall that led him to the cells of Soto del Real prison. What has become of the man who in 2011 euphorically rang the bell for Bankia's stock market debut?

The Spanish government has shelved the investigation it opened in mid-July against the Catalan company Holaluz, which could have led to the company being disqualified as an electricity marketer. "The company is sound," sources close to the matter told ARA.

Tension between the Spanish government and companies looking to promote data centers in the State. This week, Pedro Sánchez's executive has initiated the procedures to approve a royal decree that will toughen the requirements that projects must meet to be realized. The Spanish executive published the full text this Thursday, after meeting yesterday with the main sector employers' associations, Spain DC and Ametic.

In June, 12.5% more mortgages on housing were signed in Catalonia than in the same period last year, although housing sales rose a mere 1%. According to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Wednesday, it was the June with the most loan formalizations since 2010. The increase in all mortgages (including those for rural properties and land) is 14%.

Salaries and pensions are moving along different paths. The divergence is "absolutely strategic" for the evolution of the economy and social cohesion, assures Jordi Garcia, professor of labor law at the University of Barcelona (UB). This August, retirees have collected an average of 1,574.9 euros, 4.5% more than a year ago, according to the Social Security. However, prices in July rose by 3.5% compared to 2025, while awaiting to know how much the cost of living has increased this month (based on data from the CPI, the consumer price index, published by the INE).

The Generalitat has determined that there are 118 municipalities that must continue to be included in the stressed residential market area (ZMRT), a classification that establishes, among other things, where rent caps apply. However, according to the Chamber of Urban Property of Barcelona, "only" in 33 of these towns do families have to dedicate more than 30% of their income to paying rent and utilities.

Changes in the system for booking places for Imserso, the social tourism program for pensioners. Until now, interested parties could book a place on one of the subsidized trips from their town hall thanks to the agreement between the public body and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), signed in 1989. The agreement has fallen and pensioners will have to process their application through one of the travel agencies linked to Imserso, as ARA has learned.

While 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.

Technology, new consumption habits and changes in the ways we relate have ushered postal mail into a new era. For the first time, in 2025 in Spain, more packages than letters were sent, according to the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC). Globally, postal sector revenues are rising.

In Santiago de Compostela, rents have risen by 40.26% in five years: they have gone from an average of €444 per month in 2019 to €623 in 2024. Although the prices are far from what Barcelonians pay –an average of €1,137, according to the Generalitat–, Santiago meets the conditions established in the state housing law to be considered a Stressed Residential Market Area (ZMRT), the umbrella term that allows rent caps to be set.

Catalan construction companies have stated that the Generalitat has only put out to tender 3,000 flats from the famous Plan 50,000, thus qualifying what the President of the Government, Salvador Illa, said, who said there were 31,041 "underway" during an intervention in Parliament in October. Furthermore, they have warned that "none are finished". The Catalan executive committed to incorporate 50,000 affordable rental flats into the market, which are to be built by 2030.