The Spanish economy is growing. Since 2018, more than two million jobs have been created, and wages have been increasing. Nevertheless, large social layers do not arrive at the end of the month, the main goods become more and more expensive, and access to housing becomes a chimera.
Prices for the purchase and rent were shot in many cities, or there is not enough offer to satisfy demand. And although we have not yet reached exorbitant levels of efforts, supported in the lively years of the bubble in the field of real estate, we are in the way to it if radical measures are not taken.
How we are here: a “new” housing model always
Several factors explain the impossibility of access to housing for large layers of society that we could summarize in Spain, there are two forms of access to housing: a market or a market.
The market in the current context of restricting access to loans focused on creating a fewer houses, but much more expensive – “exclusive”. In addition, the strengthening of financial standards, although this limits the creation of another bubble in the field of real estate, also excludes access to housing in wide social sectors, without satisfying the requirements for mortgages or lacks 30%. Capital, given this reality, put forward an important part of the extraction of income from sale to private rent. Housing is a business, he never ceased to be.
In parallel, few and imperfect public counterweights were suppressed during these years to try to alleviate the consequences of speculation with housing.
The most relevant is the disappearance of state housing policy within the framework of abbreviations. The protected housing proposal (VPO) has disappeared that for decades was the key for wide social layers for access to the house: 2.7 million protected houses built in the period from 1980 to 2023 with a public guarantee. Most of them were disqualified and, therefore, privatized. If we add 200,000 million euros that won in fiscal calculations in housing, which could be used to build 2 million houses, we can conclude that we have lost the opportunity to consolidate a public park in five million houses in Spain.
All this forces a private rent, despite its exorbitant value, is the only alternative to housing for most of the property of the homeless population. The emergence of new participants, such as vulture funds, the professionalization of the tenant management and growing tourist or temporary use of housing, hone this model.
This is a new model with the same logic as always: housing as a market good, and not as basic social law.
Brick (and always) the most profitable investment
Since the rate on Franco’s regime to create a company of owners, housing has always been in our country a favorite form of savings for families and was considered a form of safe and profitable investments in the long term.
The data confirm that housing investments in Spain are very profitable and remain more profitable than any alternative investment. And this is explained, because the policy used for decades is reinforced that this is so.
At the end of 2024, the annual gross profitability of the house (rent more housing prices) amounted to 12.9%. Profitability, which is much higher than low -level alternatives for families, such as urgent deposits (2.2% per year) or investments in bonds and state obligations of 10 years (3.2% per year). For investments with a higher risk profile, profitability also does not exceed what housing offers: transmians offer an average profitability of 9.2% per year.
Brick is also more profitable for companies than productive investments. At the end of 2024, the profitability of the invested capital of Spanish companies amounted to 7.3%, according to the data from the Central Center for Balance of Spain. That is, gross profitability of housing is almost twice as much as the profitability of productive investments in business.
In fact, despite the collapse of the bubble, if we compare the investments made in 2000, the profitability of housing is 52% higher than it was achieved by productive investments in business. Redavistan capitalism is eaten in productive capitalism.
Rental capitalism as a productive and economic ballast
Therefore, the consequences of our housing model have not only strong social influence, but also important negative economic consequences.
For families, this is a strong lease, which leads to an increase in salaries, leads to the fact that many houses do not reach the end of the month and limit the total demand at the macroeconomic level. These families should allocate the growing part of their income for housing, for damage to other main goods and services of a real economy, which will also lead to greater activities and employment.
For capital, he generates a perverted incentive that it is more profitable to speculate and extract housing income than to make productive investments that generate value added and productive fabric.
The housing market is one of the central legs of rented capitalism, as Marx would call, which, providing economics resources, limits the total demand, economic growth and potential for creating employment.
Lower housing will increase economic activity
Reducing the cost of housing improves the availability of housing, financial and purchasing capabilities of households and will release the volume of resources that can be used to consume real economy goods and services.
From the CCOO confederal economic cabinet, we calculated the potential impact on the economy and the use of housing prices by 30%. We take into account 3.3 million households that are currently paying the market rental, and those households that buy a house annually, some of them at the expense of a mortgage loan (there are currently about five million houses of houses).
A decrease in the cost of the house 30% will include a pulse in total demand in the amount of 25 billion euros, which will lead to the creation of 410,000 jobs in the next five years. This will be equivalent to 20% of pure employment created over the past five years. If the assessment is 10 years, the potential creation of employment is 780,000 jobs.
We need a radical and structural housing policy
Before the real estate market, which will always try to maximize income prey, public administration must meet a radical and structural policy.
For many years, thousands of euros have been won in housing: four unsuccessful decades of state policy that have not improved their availability, but they have achieved success in the housing business. They suggested a lot of expenses, but few investments and leave us a double negative inheritance: in Spain there is not enough tools to effectively guarantee the right to housing and redirect wide resources that would contribute to large productive investments and development.
Reducing the price of the case is possible through the measurement battery. These include in the short term, mobilize empty houses, use control over the price in voltage zones, close regulatory gaps for renting rooms, seasonal and tourists; And as a structural solution they are a large public rolling park. When housing devours the future and value, there is neither at home nor economics.
