The situation is contradictory in capital letters: while developers warn that the lack of land is one of the main impediments to the creation of new housing, the data show that there is an "overabundance" of vacant and stagnant land, which is not entering the market. Only in the municipalities declared a tense residential market zone (ZMRT) –that is, where policies such as caps are needed to facilitate access to housing in a context of high demand–, there is land to build 423,600 apartments on plots that are not yet part of the urban fabric, but are at its gates. Beforehand they must be urbanized or require changes of use, but the town councils, in their urban plans, already foresaw that housing would be built there.

The second episode of the podcast Tocar sostre revolves around how we should understand housing: is it a basic necessity, an investment asset, or a social right? Participants include urban anthropologist Manuel Delgado, economist Josep Oliver, and economist and president of the Hàbitat3 Foundation, Carme Trilla. Moderated by journalist Carla Turró.

The Papallona block in the Esquerra de l'Eixample neighborhood is taking a step forward in its resistance against the investment fund New Amsterdam Developers (NAD) with an indefinite rent strike. 17 residents from 4 of the 6 inhabited apartments have joined, organized with the Socialist Housing Union of Catalonia, and they hope that the remaining tenants will also end up joining. Their goal is to get the Barcelona City Council to expropriate the building on Llança Street at "zero profit," meaning that the purchase should be made at the price the fund acquired the property for, points out Anna Olesti, a resident of the block and spokesperson for the union in Eixample. The mobilized neighbors are also demanding indefinite contracts and the conversion of the current empty apartments into social housing.

Pedro Sánchez pressed the button for the snap election due to the housing emergency the State is experiencing, personified by the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, who died a few days later. Housing and, specifically, rents have been at the center of the political debate since then, and the PSOE is trying to position itself as the guarantor of citizens' interests and against speculators. The socialist spokesperson, Montse Mínguez, has been one of the most belligerent in this debate, and now she is precisely the one most singled out by the PP and Junts, once it was published that her partner has a real estate business with dozens of rental apartments. "It is a family business that is dedicated to rentals and complies with the Catalonia housing law," Mínguez justified this Tuesday in an interview on the programEspejo Públicoon Antena 3. The digital media outlet Artículo 14 had published shortly before that her partner has at least one real estate company, Nest Capital, which manages 8 million euros in assets and between 20 and 30 rental apartments. This Wednesday, the same media outlet expanded the information, pointing out that he would have three more companies dedicated to real estate management.

The first episode of the podcast Tocar sostre deals with the issue of housing rentals. Participants include businesswoman Joana Amat, notary and member of the Board of Directors of the Cercle d'Economia Camino Quiroga and writer Llucia Ramis. Moderated by journalist Antoni Bassas.

Congress has rejected the two housing decrees of the Spanish government. With one, the possibility of implementing so-called indefinite rental contracts falls through: the automatic extensions of contracts are lost, which in some cases would have been accompanied by compensation for tenants –if the law is not complied with–. With the other decree, a battery of measures falls, many of which are social, also regarding housing. It is these measures that have alerted movements for the right to housing. Among other things, the moratorium on certain evictions of vulnerable families disappears.

This morning, Junts per Catalunya decided to launch a rocket into the sky, a rocket that can be seen from afar and indicates to everyone, for when another electoral cycle comes, that it is Junts and not Aliança that is the only alternative to the PSC-Esquerra-Comuns investiture and budget bloc. And that is why the president of the Junts group, Mònica Sales, has announced an action that had never been seen before: she wants Parliament to vote on the censure of President Salvador Illa: “You, President, are the worst president modern Catalonia has had (...) That is why I announce to you that today the Junts parliamentary group will present a motion to censure you as president of the Generalitat”

The Spanish government is optimistic, but the fact is that, 48 hours before the vote on the housing decrees in Congress, they still do not have guaranteed support. Neither for the first decree-law, with a broad battery of measures such as the suspension of evictions and tax incentives –already published in the BOE–, nor for the second, which automatically extends rental contracts, which will be officially published this Thursday. For the moment, the Spanish government only counts on the affirmative vote of EH Bildu and Esquerra, as announced by its president, Oriol Junqueras, although the spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has said that they will look at it down to the "last comma". Meanwhile, Junts, Podemos and the PNV maintain the uncertainty. In fact, it is with these two parties that the Spanish government has to perform the most juggling acts to satisfy their demands, which are very often contradictory. In parallel, the Tenants' Union has demanded that the groups validate both decrees.

The final texts of the two housing decrees approved by the Spanish government this Tuesday have several key points with some essential measures. The first decree-law has already been published in the BOE and the second decree will not be published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) until this Thursday.

The streets are also applying pressure just hours before Pedro Sánchez's government brings the new housing decree-law to the Council of Ministers. Also in Barcelona, where this Monday the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, held various events and ended the day at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya at the awards ceremony for La Vanguardia. 2,000 people according to the Guàrdia Urbana and 20,000 according to the organizers gathered on Avinguda Diagonal to demand that the new decree include, among other things, the indefinite extension of rental contracts and the suspension of evictions.

Maricarmen Abascal in Madrid; Olga, the 54-year-old woman from l'Hospitalet who committed suicide after being evicted... The list is terribly long. Although the total number of judicial evictions is lower than it was a few years ago, it remains a problem, a scourge. And what is most serious is that when a measure has been attempted to be applied, even if temporary –such as the decree to prevent the eviction of vulnerable people–, a group of parties, such as the PP, Vox and Junts, opposed it.

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.

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.

Updates to the list of Catalan municipalities that meet the conditions for applying the rent price cap. The Generalitat has reviewed the declaration of municipalities considered a tense residential market area and has incorporated and excluded several towns: after conducting a study on the housing situation, the Government proposes that 302 municipalities have official recognition that their housing market is tense.

New data on the impact of rent caps. The average price of new rental contracts has fallen by 1.28% in municipalities declared as rent-controlled areas —where the administration can apply rent containment— compared to when the measure began to be applied in March 2024, while in the rest of Catalonia prices have risen by 9.53%. This is data published by the Generalitat this Monday based on the deposits of new rental contracts made to Incasòl during the first quarter of 2026.

More than three years after the state housing law came into force, the Generalitat has fined three large holders for the first time – meaning owners of more than five homes each – for non-compliance with the regulations, as reported by the Efe agency this Friday. In response to questions from ARA, the Department of Territory and Housing has not specified what type of non-compliance it is (whether it is, for example, for violating the rent cap).

A few days ago, the governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, warned that housing is a true national emergency. He is not wrong. This problem, which is a growing concern for citizens, has become the main source of growth in social inequality. Whichever data you look at, the diagnosis is always the same: there is more demand than supply, expensive and practically inaccessible for a large part of the population. And of the supply that exists, some is in the hands of non-residents or are apartments used for tourist rentals. In total, there are about 900,000 across the country, according to data from the Bank of Spain.

The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda has set itself the goal of ending abusive practices in rental contracts. Now, in addition to pursuing large real estate companies –These clauses are those that have been declared judicially or legally abusive and that form part of the complaints usually filed by tenants.

The Supreme Court partially rules in favor of those autonomous communities that filed an appeal against the single registration of short-term housing by the Spanish government, as they believed it encroached on regional competencies. In a ruling published this Thursday, and in response to an appeal filed by the Generalitat Valenciana (Andalusia also filed one), the high court annuls the measure because it considers that the State does not have the authority to create such a tool.

Movements between Junts and the Spanish government. The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, was open this Tuesday to approving the tax incentives that Junts is asking for in the housing portfolio: "It is an opportunity that we should take advantage of," she stated in an interview with ACN. The PSOE has tried to convey that the measures of Carles Puigdemont's party can go ahead, and the Junts members also note that, now yes, things can go differently than the last two times the issue has been voted on in Congress. Thus, according to Junts sources consulted, the party accepts the challenge and shows its willingness to approve the extension of rents, in parallel to the executive also promoting a decree with tax deductions for mortgages and rents. The Junts members would accept them being presented in two separate decrees, as long as both end up passing.