Barcelona-Madrid: two opposing approaches to the housing crisis

BarcelonaThe classic rivalry between the cities of Barcelona and Madrid saw a new chapter unfold this Wednesday in the Senate regarding housing. The mayors of both capitals, Jaume Collboni and José Luis Martínez-Almeida, appeared before the Spanish upper house to explain the strategies each is implementing to address their cities' housing crisis. It wasn't a direct confrontation – they spoke separately – but it served to highlight that Barcelona and Madrid's approaches to this issue are currently diametrically opposed. The main difference in opinion between the two mayors quickly became apparent. While Collboni has long boasted of "changing the rules of the game" and of having made Barcelona a leader in rent regulation, Almeida began his remarks by criticizing market regulation. The Popular Party leader has said that the state housing law and measures like the rent cap represent a "strangulation" and "excessive interventionism," consolidating a disproportion between the obligations of "landlords and tenants." According to Almeida, the solution should be completely different and should be based on expanding the housing supply by building new homes. Therefore, he has advocated "making life easier for real estate developers from a fiscal and regulatory standpoint" by incentivizing "rapid construction." In this regard, he boasted that Madrid is the European city with the most land ready for construction and assured that the City Council currently has the capacity to issue 60,000 building permits for apartments. Beyond private sector activity, the mayor of Madrid also touted the public investment he said the Spanish capital is making. Thus, he asserted that last year Madrid built more public housing than Catalonia, Asturias, Navarre, and Castilla-La Mancha combined, even claiming that the municipal public housing company, with 10,000 homes, is the "largest public housing developer in Spain." This claim was refuted by other political groups, who pointed out that Barcelona currently has more public housing units and that, moreover, when considering each city's population, the proportion of public housing in Madrid is lower. Although both mayors emphasized that they did not want to "confront" the cities, they did have time to question some decisions. Almeida, for example, opposed implementing a rent cap in Madrid, arguing that "there is nowhere" where rental prices have fallen without a corresponding substantial reduction in the supply of this type of housing. Collboni, for his part, defended the Barcelona model, stating that it works and recommended that Madrid also "apply the law."

Regulate purchases for non-residents

In fact, during his address to the Senate, the mayor of Barcelona went even further and called for greater regulation. Collboni emphasized that a significant portion of home purchases in large cities are made by non-EU citizens not residing in Spain, who "only want to spend a few days on vacation." "We should do something about this as well," warned Collboni, who stressed that this phenomenon not only affects Barcelona but also occurs in cities like Alicante, Palma, and Málaga. While acknowledging that everyone agrees housing needs to be built and that private supply should also be encouraged, Collboni stated that "in the meantime, more measures are needed to facilitate access to housing." In this regard, he argued that thanks to the implementation of the housing law, the increase in rental prices has been halted. He explained that while between 2014 and 2024 rental prices in Barcelona rose by 78%, since the implementation of the rent cap, they have fallen by 4.9%. Collboni also highlighted other measures Barcelona is taking to intervene in the housing market, such as the decision to eliminate all tourist apartments by the end of 2028 and the purchase of entire buildings through the right of first refusal. He stated that these measures, along with public construction, should allow 15 percent of the city's housing stock to be publicly owned.