Housing costs are now a financial burden for the vast majority of the Catalan population. More than 80% must dedicate over 30% of their income to rent payments, and up to 36% must set aside half their salary. This additional strain is significantly lower among homeowners with outstanding mortgages, with percentages of 62% and 20%, respectively. These figures come from the report. Housing, the cement of inequalitiesA report published by Oxfam Intermón highlights that the cost of housing has increased by 56% since 2014 without a corresponding rise in wages. The report paints a picture of a society where housing is the primary driver of social inequality. And more than by neighborhood, the imbalance is determined by whether or not renting is involved. Only 15% of renters can meet the Bank of Spain's recommendation to spend less than a third of their income on housing. In contrast, among those with a mortgage, the percentage reaches 80%. According to Raquel Checa, head of Oxfam Intermón's Zero Inequality campaign, renting has become "the great trap," as soaring prices make saving almost impossible.

The armed conflict in the Middle East also has financial repercussions. The Euribor, the benchmark for variable-rate mortgages, registered its largest daily increase in almost 20 years on Tuesday. This one-year indicator climbed to 2.552%, an increase of 0.185 percentage points. Normally, this benchmark fluctuates by only a few thousandths of a point daily, but this time it experienced a 7.8% rise in a single day.

The interests of the far right and big business often go hand in hand. Lowering taxes, raising corporate profits, privatizing pensions, and ultimately shrinking the state are part of their DNA. But sometimes these interests clash, especially when protectionist measures are involved. It is within this context that the latest major strategy of the far right internationally must be understood: making housing affordable, one of the population's main problems. US President Donald Trump is paving the way with interventionist measures that declare war on big investors. The most striking: the announced ban on the purchase of single-family homes to large corporations as a method to achieve lower rental prices. In Spain, Vox is a star pupil, although until now, collusion with groups that specialize in evicting tenants has been the defining characteristic of the Spanish far right. Now, on a new path to capture the working-class vote, in Catalonia and throughout the StateVox joins this international trend, also followed by other parties within the Patriots for Europe coalition, which includes prominent far-right figures such as France's Marine Le Pen, Hungary's Viktor Orbán, and Italy's Matteo Salvini. Far from the ultraliberalism advocated by Argentine President Javier Milei, this conglomerate has opted for a combination of liberal and interventionist ideas, seasoned with rhetoric against international investment funds, a tactic also employed by the populist left. In a conversation with ARA, Carlos Hernández Quero, Vox's strategist and deputy spokesperson in Congress, points out that not many governments within his political family have yet chosen to impose such clear limits on investment funds. And he justifies this approach. Trumpian"It's a matter of understanding the purpose of the policies. Having property ownership as widely distributed as possible is best," he states. His premise is that "living in a home you own" is the most desirable and that to achieve this, "we must combat unfair competition from large funds or foreign capital." In other words, they advocate for market intervention, but at the same time, "promoting construction and opting for low taxes." A "less dogmatic" approach than that of the United States, with the objective of "discouraging purchases by international players," which "heats up the market and drives up prices." "People live in houses, not corporations," Trump said to justify the announcements of recent weeks.

A Barcelona court will have the final say on the eviction of a tenant in the Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona. The investment fund that owns the apartment has taken the case to court to force the eviction with the aim of converting the property into a colivingThis is number 14 on Sant Agustí street, where there are already four apartments that are colivingsSeveral files and fines have long since confirmed that The work to divide the apartments had been done illegally.

Housing is one of the few issues that has managed to unite all the left-wing forces in the Catalan Parliament. Despite their differences with the Socialists on national and economic matters, even the CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy) has joined ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia) and Comuns (Commons) to reach agreements with the PSC (Socialist Party of Catalonia) on housing measures. such as the regulation of seasonal rentals or the protection of subsidized housingThe Socialists' commitment to intervention in this market has further distanced them from Junts and the real estate sector, which is outraged by the "unhealthy legislative activity" of the PSC government, in the words of the Association of Real Estate Agents of Catalonia and the College of Industrial Property Agents. To begin with, Junts has joined the PP and announced that it too The regulation of seasonal rentals will be handled by the Statutory Guarantees CouncilThis postpones the vote for at least a month.

This week Zohran Mamdani has made headlines around the world after winning in New York City In the time of Donald Trump. This 34-year-old American, a self-proclaimed socialist of Muslim origin, has managed to connect with the youth vote and offer a glimmer of hope to the Democratic Party, although it would be a mistake to think that the results can be extrapolated to the entire United States. Through resources also used by the far right—social media, simple messages, and promises difficult to keep—he secured victory, but the key to his discourse has been to put the material conditions of the population, especially housing, back at the center. This is an issue that has not been central to the Democratic Party's discourse in recent years; otherwise, it's difficult to explain why Trump won the election as he did. Mamdani offers a formula for fighting the far right, which is to talk about affordability.

Eighty percent of the reports received by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and local police forces regarding squatting involve empty apartments owned by large landlords or investment funds. According to data published this Saturday by the Catalan News Agency (ACN), squatting has fallen by around 18% during the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period last year, although more attempted squatting incidents have been recorded. Mossos' Deputy Chief Executive, Alicia Moriana, told ACN that when squatting occurs in apartments owned by large landlords or investment funds, the police often encounter "some difficulty" in locating the property owner and getting them to file a report, a crucial step for police intervention. In fact, the police have even encountered cases where "not even the investment fund itself was aware that it owned" the occupied apartment, and others where the owners refrain from initiating legal proceedings due to the costs involved until the property becomes "financially attractive" to them.

The Government and the Commons sealed an agreement this Monday to unblock two outstanding commitments from the negotiation of the credit supplements in the spring. These are, on the one hand, the anti-eviction unit, which will have a budget of almost €40 million between 2026 and 2030. This unit will assist people at risk of being evicted from their homes for being unable to pay their rent or mortgage, and the Government will approve it this Tuesday in the Executive Council. The other measure is the registry of large property owners, in which all legal entities or individuals with more than five homes must register. Those who fail to do so will face fines of between €9,000 and €90,000, covered by the regulations of the Housing Law. As explained by AHORA, the registry is expected to be approved in November and operational in December.

The Vice President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Luis de Guindos, asserted this Wednesday that housing policies, especially those affecting rentals, have created "bottlenecks" in the market that partly explain the rising prices in the sector. Guindos praised the fact that the Spanish economy is growing, largely thanks to the arrival of foreign immigration, but contrasted this with the fact that "the housing supply is very limited."

They both left the same place: Morocco. Abdunur, 23, boarded a small boat and traveled across the Strait of Gibraltar. A journey he doesn't want to remember or describe. Marwan, 29, bought a plane ticket to Turkey. And from there, he began walking. A journey on foot that lasted months until they reached Barcelona, ​​​​a city where they envisioned a better future, where they hoped to "find work," but which has led them to live in tents in Parc Joan Miró. This Tuesday morning, before the sun had risen, police lights woke them up. The officers asked them to gather all their belongings and leave. "Where will I go? To the bench across the street, or to another park," says Abdunur, who explains that he still has eight months to wait before he can access a hostel bed.

In his first general policy debate, the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, sought to secure the support of his two parliamentary partners with an announcement that, in fact, had already been made in the investiture agreements: enable 50,000 protected apartments in five years to try to get a handle on the housing problem. With 7,000 of these apartments already in production, the Government now wants to accelerate the process of converting the land into plots for housing development with the help of the private sector. Hence, Isla wanted to repeat the move by announcing, in his second general policy debate, a plan to promote 214,000 public and private apartmentsIt was less successful than last year: the Parliament rejected the proposal that the Socialist group brought to the plenary session, with the abstention of ERC and Comuns. But why did the parliamentary partners of the PSC government distance themselves from that proposal?

Prefabricated homes have long since burst onto the real estate market and have already gained significant traction in the Catalan construction industry. The methodology, patented for two decades, The Lleida-based company Grupo PMP (which stands for Prefabricated Modular Projects) It aims to soon become Spain's leader in this category. Its way of building houses is similar to that of Lego: they prepare all the pieces in their factory, from walls, doors, and windows, to the smallest details of the interiors, and then they assemble them. in situ in just a few months. A revolution that has only continued to emerge, even in times of crisis.

"We only have three nights in the hostel, what next?" This question has haunted Maria Isabel and Jose Manuel since they were evicted from their home on Monday, along with more than 160 people living in the illegal campsite of the Cinco Sénias of Mataró. Tomorrow, Wednesday, is their last night staying; after that, they'll have to find a way to make ends meet. They're both sick; she has chronic kidney failure, undergoes dialysis three times a week, and is awaiting a kidney transplant. He can barely walk, has osteoarthritis, and is waiting for a medical panel to decide whether or not he deserves social benefits. Until now, they've been surviving on Maria Isabel's €500 disability pension, but they're clear they won't be able to rent anything before the meager solution offered by the City Council of the capital of Maresme runs out. "I'm already looking for things, but I need more time; I have no alternatives. Either I stay on the street or I squat," she explains resignedly.

The one-year Euribor, the benchmark for variable-rate mortgages, closed May at an average of 2.081%, compared to 2.143% in April. It thus falls to the level of August 2022, just months after emerging from the negative territory it had held for six years. The fall in this index, which could continue to fall below 2% by the end of the year, according to expert estimates, has the positive effect of lowering the payments for those linked to it and also the interest rate at which new loans are offered. The most immediate effect is that a typical 25-year mortgage of €156,698 (the one collected by the National Statistics Institute for March) with a spread of the Euribor plus one percentage point, will go from having a monthly payment of €887.07 to €749.70, a reduction of €1,648.44.

CaixaBank has launched a strategy to attract customers over 60, a growing segment of the population. The bank, which has more than four million customers across Spain over the age of 65 and manages 34% of retirement pensions, has decided to launch a range of products and services aimed at this population, following the guidelines set out in the 2025-2027 strategic plan. The proposal includes alternatives for financial planning, but also leisure, training, and care options.

On Tuesday the Spanish government approved a new series of housing measures. The star project, the state housing law, was put on hold after the judiciary did not approve the first report on the law; however, the executive has approved two other measures to facilitate access to housing, especially for young people: the young tenant grant and the state plan for access to housing 2022-2025, endowed with €1.7bn.