While current events are marked by the housing crisis, an auction platform has brought a historic three-story building in the old town of Valls to the market with a starting price of 1 euro. For less than what a loaf of bread or a latte costs, Escrapalia is offering a 368-square-meter property with a garage and attic in the capital of the Alt Camp region. However, to live in it, a comprehensive renovation is required.

The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 has opened disciplinary proceedings against a real estate portal operating throughout the State, without disclosing which one it is, for "possible unfair commercial practices against consumers and users". According to a note from this Wednesday, the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs initiated this investigation after receiving a complaint from the Federation of Consumers and Users CECU.

The housing crisis continues to worsen. While evictions take on a name of their own, the public seems to say enough is enough and politicians search for solutions against the clock, the data only confirms the severity of the problem: housing prices are drifting further and further away from wages and families' ability to save.

The signing of mortgages continues its upward trend in Catalonia. During the month of July, 8,858 mortgages on homes were registered in the country, according to the provisional data updated this Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The figure represents a year-on-year increase of 4.9%, and sets a new high for a month of July since 2010, when 9,547 signatures were formalized. It is also a monthly high in recent years, as so many had not been signed since October 2024 (8,910).

The investment fund Blackstone —through its subsidiary Anticipa— has committed to negotiating the social leases it holds in Catalonia on a case-by-case basis. After El matí de Catalunya Ràdio reported this Friday that the company did not intend to renew the 400 contracts of this type it has in the country in order to put the homes up for sale, the fund now says it does not rule out maintaining some social leases. However, the company maintains that once the contracts expire, they will continue offering tenants the possibility of buying the apartments where they live. As of now, about a hundred of them have agreed to the proposal. The remaining cases, however, are being reviewed.

Catalonia recorded a 10.1% increase in housing purchase costs between April and June 2026 compared to the same period last year, according to the housing price index, updated this Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The increase, although it is slowing down slightly compared to figures recently recorded –with rises above 11% in some quarters of last year–, remains among the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic, and has chained rises above double digits since the end of 2024. In fact, the increase between April and June is the third highest in the historical series, only surpassed by the second quarters of 2007 (+10.3%) and 2025 (+11.6%).

More than half of the municipalities in the Barcelona metropolitan area have not generated any protected housing (HPO) in the period between 2020 and 2025. This is indicated by the Association of Developers of Catalonia (APCE), which, according to data published this Tuesday, warns that the presence of HPO in the demarcation continues to be "insufficient and territorially very unequal in the metropolitan area". The APCE expresses particular concern about this point in the Catalan geography, as it is the area with the highest residential demand in Catalonia.

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.

New construction is growing in Catalonia, but not to provide housing. In the first six months of the year, the College of Architects of Catalonia (Coac) has issued permits to build or extensively renovate 2.41 million square meters in Catalonia, a 13.46% increase compared to the same period last year. However, although housing is what the ongoing constructions will be predominantly for (almost 1.6 million m², 66% of the total), the increase in actions has been concentrated in other uses – which have grown by 54.24% compared to 2025 – while it has stagnated for housing – an area where it has increased by 0.54%–. In fact, architects have approved 2.59% fewer new construction and renovation homes, down to 7,897: that is, Catalonia is making fewer apartments available than a year ago, but, on the one hand, they are larger, and, on the other hand, renovations are keeping the surface area with ongoing actions for housing stable.

A judge in Barcelona is investigating the development company Spacek XXI and its administrator, Ramon Triquell Monfort, following a complaint accusing him of hiding assets to avoid paying a debt. Triquell was responsible for a network of real estate companies to whom various clients accuse of delivering unfinished homes in Barcelona and various developers accuse of non-payments, as ARA explained last April.

Colonial SFL, until now focused on the office markets of Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris, has overcome one of its pending tasks: setting foot in Berlin. For some time now, the top executives of the Catalan real estate company, Juan José Brugera (president) and Pere Viñolas (CEO) had expressed interest to bring its business model to the German capital.

The number of mortgages on housing in Catalonia reached 7,506 signatures during the past month of April, with a year-on-year increase of 18.5%. It is the April with the most housing mortgages signed since 2010, according to data published this Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Searching on any of the major real estate portals for lofts or studios on the ground floor in Barcelona generates a results page full of listings for properties without a certificate of habitability available for purchase –mostly– or for rent, some of which at prices far above the market average and that can reach 760,000 euros. Despite being a legally required document to live in a dwelling, when asked by ARA, Catalan administrations –such as the Generalitat or the Barcelona City Council– do not currently provide data on inspections and sanctions for this matter.

The Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory calculates the real impact of the rent cap. Prices in the Catalan capital would have risen by between 160 and 270 euros more per month if this measure had not been implemented, according to a report prepared by this entity. Without regulation, the document states, rents would have continued to rise to 1,318.6 euros per month, following the trend of the last decade, or could even have risen further, to 1,492.2 euros, if the accelerated growth rate of the market in recent years had been maintained.

The Spanish government announced this Thursday a new sanctioning procedure against a "large real estate company" – the executive refuses, for the moment, to make its name public – for allegedly violating consumer rights in housing matters. It is the fourth procedure on this issue opened during the legislature, which began three years ago, according to sources from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs confirmed to the newspaper ARA.

The construction sector worldwide is slowing down its decarbonization despite "positive changes" made since 2015. "Progress has slowed," warns the tenth Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (Global ABC). It establishes construction as a "cornerstone" of human life, both economically and climatically.

Catalonia breaks the streak of monthly growth in home purchases, which had already lasted six months. According to the latest data on property rights transfers, published this Monday by the National Statistics Institute, sales have fallen by 3.5% in March compared to the same period last year. The decline in the third month of the year reverses the trend that had been maintained since the beginning of the year, with growth of 1.4% in January and more than 5.7% in February.

Inter Miami footballer and Barça legend, Leo Messi, has purchased the building of the former Via Wagner galleries for 11.5 million euros. As reported by the asset seller, Santomera Bay, Alejandro Alcaraz's office, the operation was carried out through the Argentine forward's socimi, Edifici Rostower.

The housing crisis and the rising cost of both rentals and purchases have cast doubt on a significant part of the taxation of real estate companies due to the low level of taxes they pay compared to other sectors of the economy. One of the targets of criticism for this low taxation are SOCIMIs, publicly traded real estate investment companies.

Catalonia surpassed 8,500 housing mortgages constituted in February for the first time since 2010 and has now accumulated 20 months of year-on-year increases, according to figures updated by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Friday.