The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Monday a package of 12 measures on housing with which he wants to solve “the biggest problem of the middle classes in Europe and in Spain.” Specifically, the Executive wants to prohibit the purchase of homes by non-EU foreigners who do not reside in Spain, will limit the tax advantages of Socimis to those that promote affordable housing and will bring to Congress a 100% exemption from personal income tax for those owners who adapt the income to the price index.
The president began his speech at the forum on housing organized by the Executive by warning of the “dilemma that society as a whole faces in the West”: “Do not become a society divided into two classes, the rich owners and the poor tenants.” . Later, he attacked the policies of the Popular Party. “The previous Government came to power in the middle of the economic crisis with an absolute majority,” he said, “and what it did was look the other way.” “Looking at what we have seen, they have no regrets and want to return to that policy, that of the bubble, and then have the state come and pay for the damage with the money of the middle classes,” he criticized.
In this intervention, Sánchez has listed up to 12 measures that, he explained, aim to cover three objectives: “more housing, better regulation and greater aid.” The first announcement was the transfer of 3,300 homes and two million square meters of residential land to the new public housing company. “They are going to be used to build thousands and thousands and thousands of protected housing at affordable prices,” he defended. In addition, the Government’s objective is to provide this new entity with a “legal mechanism so that it has priority in the purchase of homes and land” and another “to guarantee that all housing built” with public funds “maintains public ownership.”
The Government has also announced the creation of a “system of public guarantees that protect both owners and tenants who participate in affordable rentals”, with “guarantees so that citizens can rent and owners do so without taking risks.” . In addition, it will promote a rehabilitation program for empty homes that will be used for rent at an affordable price, for at least five years.
Tax changes: improvements for owners and limits on Socimis
The plan that the president outlined this Monday includes changes in fiscal matters. “We are going to propose to Congress the approval of a 100% personal income tax exemption for those owners who rent their home according to the reference index, without the need for them to be in stressed areas,” said Sánchez, who has put the focus on tourist apartments. In this case, he wants them to “tax like what they are, a business.” “What is not fair is that someone who has three tourist rentals pays less taxes than a hotel or than workers,” he highlighted. In addition, it has committed to “change the tax advantage regime for Socimis, so that they only apply to the affordable rental regime.”
Sánchez has advocated for “protecting citizens and finding a better balance between tourism and investment and the right to housing.” Among the measures aimed at this end, it has announced the limitation of home purchases by non-resident non-EU foreigners, increasing the tax burden up to 100% of the value of the property. It is something, he said, “unprecedented in the hostility of our country, which is already being done in other democracies, such as Denmark or Canada.” “In 2023 alone, around 27,000 houses and apartments were purchased. Not to live in them, not for their relatives to live in. They did it mainly to speculate, to make money with them. Something that, in the context of residential shortage, we cannot afford.”
On this day, Sánchez has surrounded himself with up to nine members of his cabinet. In addition to the head of the branch, Isabel Rodríguez, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, were present at the forum; that of Industry, Jordi Hereu; that of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres; that of Economy, Carlos Corpo; that of Equality, Ana Redondo; that of Social Security, Elma Sáiz; and that of Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, had inaugurated the forum Housing, fifth pillar of the Welfare Staterecognizing that this is “one of the main problems suffered by thousands of people in our country.” “Spanish citizens remind us with their push and mobilization that the right to housing is not negotiable,” he assured before committing that this issue is “an absolute priority” for the Executive that “has adopted like no other the decision to put the housing at the center of the agenda.”
During his speech, Rodríguez contrasted the Government model with the liberalizing policies of the Popular Party. “We learned and suffered that liberalizing land is not more affordability, that offering more supply if there is no regulation is not more affordability” but rather that “more supply without control leads us to the boom, to the real estate bubble that caused so much damage and has caused so many scars.” “left,” he stated to defend a model that the Ministry has been insisting on for months and involves shielding the public housing stock in perpetuity.
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