The housing law celebrates one year with a single community applying its star measure and failing to bring down prices
After a tortuous process of more than two years, The Senate gave the definitive green light to the housing law just a year ago. The rule, which came into force on May 26, 2023, promised – and promises – to facilitate access to housing and guarantee equally throughout Spain the right included in article 47 of the Constitution, limiting rent increases and protecting the most vulnerable tenants, among other points. A year later, the key to implementing an important part of the law promoted by the coalition government It is in the hands of the communities, that the majority resist applying it. Meanwhile, housing prices continue to grow and continue to pose a suffocating burden for many families.
The star measure of the law approved in the last legislature is the so-called stressed areas, with which we seek Identify the points where access to housing is more complicated to deploy specific measures in them. This consideration can be applied in those areas where the average cost of housing exceeds 30% of the average household income (including mortgage or rent and associated expenses such as electricity or gas) or where the price of housing has grown in the last five years at least three points above inflation. In these areas, the housing law allows the amount of some new rental contracts to be capped based on the reference price index published in March by the Ministry of Housing, as well as applying tax deductions for small landlords.
However, for the moment Only Catalonia has activated these prerogatives by requesting the declaration of a stressed zone in 271 municipalities in its territory – not without controversy, since the Generalitat has taken the state price index to the National Court to request that it be applied simultaneously along with another reference prepared at the regional level – . The communities governed by the PP have stressed that they are not going to use these tools to address the housing problem, given that they consider that limiting rental prices would be a “mistake.” Nor have the three regions led by the PSOE taken the step.
In practice, therefore, a year after the approval of the housing law, the norm has only caused changes in the conditions of new rental contracts in less than a third of the municipalities of Catalonia. It requires taking as a reference either the contract of the previous tenant or the price range provided for in the state index in new firms when the home is owned by a large holder or is incorporated into the market for the first time in five years. In the rest of the national territory, the reference price system -which is not yet available in Navarra and the Basque Country- works as a tool merely informative which indicates in which range the rent of a home should move depending on its location, surface area and other characteristics.
On the other hand, what does apply in all communities is the 3% cap for the annual update of rental payments in 2024. However, this percentage is temporary until the National Institute of Statistics (INE) designs a new index that from 2025 it will replace the CPI as the limit for annual increases. This indicator is not yet ready. The housing law gives until December 31, 2024 for its publication.
The impact on supply
Even before the housing law came to light, the real estate sector has been against the price limitations and the bulk of the measures introduced by the law, which they attribute to the reduction in supply. The Federation of Real Estate Associations (FAI) estimates that The volume of homes on the rental market has fallen by more than 30% since the law came into force and, consequently, prices have grown by more than 12%.
The president of the FAI, José María Alfaro, explains this decrease in supply by the “fear” of small owners due to the “lack of legal security”, which, in his opinion, has caused a “progressive and important flight” from regular rental to other modalities such as vacation or seasonal rental. The regulation of tourist apartments was excluded from the norm approved a year ago, which did provide for the creation of a working group to address seasonal rentals. Although the early elections delayed the deadlines, the Ministry of Housing launched this forum at the end of last year, which has not yet reached any conclusion.
According to data from the College of Registrars, between the first quarter of 2023 and the same period of 2024, apartments have become more expensive on average in Spain by 1.9%, reaching 1,984 euros per square meter. Although the increase is moderate compared to the increases in previous years, when you put the magnifying glass on the photo changes. The differences between communities are significant. Navarra is the one where housing prices have increased the most in the last year. It has increased by 14.4% until the square meter is paid at 2,054 euros. They are followed by the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, with increases of over 5%. The Canary Islands, Madrid and Andalusia also exceed 3%. On the other hand, in Extremadura and Castilla y León housing is around 1% cheaper than a year ago.
![photographer: Jose Gonzalez [[[PREVISIONES 20M]]]topic: Housing and rental resources. For Sale. To rent. Floors. Samur. Emergencies. Heat. Air-conditioning. Tourists. Terraces. Flowers. Greater. Graffiti](https://imagenes.20minutos.es/uploads/imagenes/2023/05/03/fotografo-jose-gonzalez-previsiones-20m-tema-recursos-de-vivienda-y-alquiler-se-vende-se-alquila-pisos-samur-emergencias-calor-aire-acondicionado-turistas-terrazas-flores-mayores-grafitis-7.jpeg)
“All the evils are blamed on the housing law of this imperfect market that we have both in the purchase and rental regimes,” lamented the Secretary of State for Housing, David Lucas, in Congress a few days ago. “It seems that everything started a year ago with the housing law and that there is no prior reality that was precisely what led to the formation of the law,” he ironized, recalling the limitations of the norm and recognizing the magnitude of the problem.
For their part, tenant unions denounce irregularities in compliance with the norm in aspects such as payment of real estate fees by the landlord, which is why they have gone to court against several companies. The housing law requires that the owner, as the contractor of the real estate services to rent his apartment, be responsible for paying what corresponds to the company.
A few days before the anniversary of the law, The Constitutional Court has recently endorsed the bulk of the norm approved in the last legislature. Despite rejecting a good part of the unconstitutionality appeal presented by the Junta de Andalucía, the court of guarantees did annul the article referring to protected housing. However, the passage of the law through the Constitutional Court takes a long time, since there are seven other appeals pending.
