Speculative home buying. Vignette of 16/02/2026 in CTXT
Translation of the cartoon: "If they don't ban speculative buying, we'll optimise the gaps to create new vertical niches."
The housing problem is not entrenched. It is just one more symptom of the various chronic diseases spread by capitalism. Thus, every measure that is proposed is like trying to cure a decapitated man with a band-aid.
With various diversionary battles waged to rename poverty and keep us entertained with news about "vulnerable people with no housing alternative ", temporary social shields and other political posturing, the increasingly twisted reality continues to run wild.
To the richly chopped for hoarding
If we look at what they call the housing market, it is already clear that renting has long since ceased to be an alternative because speculators, who no longer sell either new or used, have taken over the entire rental supply so that any living space is chopped up, fragmented and reduced as much as possible to make it more profitable.
And if it doesn't exist, it is created. From a shared flat to a mini-flat, from there to a room and then to split it up and pile up more tenants per square metre. Garages, basements, what were once small commercial premises, containers or storage rooms are converted into sub-dwellings in the form of capsules with a licence to live badly, and prices continue to rise.
Niches, dens and beehives
But don't go yet, there's more to come. A developer with Israeli capital intends to build tourist flats of 24 square metres in inner courtyards in the Russafa neighbourhood (Valencia). The "urbanistic" project, which neighbours actively oppose, proposes to build "beehives" of tourist flats in the inner courtyards of a block.
And the chopping continues, even though some believe that building homes for rent is not working.
And if there is anything left, it is also hoarded for speculation. As in the case of "Rent to rent", another stupid anglicism for legal re-renting. There you have the case of Rocío, owner of 5 flats, who rents 75 rooms at 400 euros and who says she"filters a lot so as not to waste time". That's the attitude, the shark mentality. And these gutless riffraff are called "small investors" by the media.
The hoax that the regulations or the measures to stop renting are going to kill off those "small investors", humble families or people who rent a property to survive is self-defeating because those people are not the problem, they are the ones who hoard and "push" the prices to earn more and more to infinity and beyond. Madrid now has more than 75,000 owners with three properties and there are more than 500 people who have about 50 properties.
And meanwhile in the right-wing media what do you read? Well, that "squatting" is the only real problem and if there is any other housing problem it is the government's fault. So, the same day they tell you about the drama of a family that can't pay a sad rent even if they don't have a job, they open with half the front page saying that the vulture rentiers are the real victims.
And that's when they don't turn the meaning of the words around or directly invent them and keep talking about "inquiokupas" to make us believe that someone who has a rental contract and has a debt with his landlord is the same as someone who kicks in the door of a house owned by a bank or a vulture fund in which no one lives.
Nipping speculation in the bud and going for the construction of public housing (instead of promising it and then not doing it or taking twenty years to start work) could be a good starting point, but, of course, then you discover that subsidised housing also ends up in the hands of the four usual criminals and you feel like burning things, because people think it's illegal.
In Alicante, luxury public flats (I will never understand this luxury VPO thing) ended up being awarded to people close to the PP and the City Council. In this locality, at least 13 subsidised housing units are linked to Alicante City Council. A Treasury worker and the sister of another employee of the same area; a local policeman; and relatives of an official of the Press Office and of the ex-councillor of Urbanism, are among the beneficiaries of Les Naus.
People with salaries of 70,000 euros are getting subsidised housing, and on top of that from the only development that had been built in the city in the last quarter of a century. Such is the state of VPO for the rich.
Where they have begun to try to stand up to speculation with some measures that are beginning to make some sense is in Catalonia. There, the Government and the Comuns have agreed to reform the urban planning law to curb speculation in 271 stressed municipalities (where 90% of the population lives). This measure is a key condition for the Comuns to support Salvador Illa's 2026 budget, an agreement that will still require ERC's vote.
To ensure compliance, it will be processed by a single reading in Parliament. Very serious" infringements - such as fraudulent evasion of the law to conceal the status of large holder or failure to use the flat for the declared purpose - will lead to fines of up to €1.5 million.
Comuns agrees with the Government to ban speculative house purchases in Catalonia
The reform of the Urban Planning Law will come into force before the summer and will empower town councils in stressed areas, where 90% of the Catalan population lives, to put an end to speculation by large landlords and vulture funds and to ensure that flats are used for residential purposes or rented at a limited price.
The parliamentary group of the Comuns has reached an agreement with the Government to ban speculative purchases of housing in Catalonia through a modification of the Urban Planning Law. The aim is to put an end to the accumulation of housing in the hands of large landlords and investment funds that operate for speculative purposes and contribute to the increase in prices and the expulsion of the neighbourhood.
Once the reform comes into force, the town councils of the 271 municipalities that have been declared a stressed residential market area, which account for 90% of the Catalan population, will be able to approve special urban development plans to prevent homes from being bought for speculation. Purchases will be limited to two purposes: to be used as a primary residence or to be rented for residential purposes at index prices.
Restrictions according to type of owner
- Large holders (5 or more properties): They will not be able to buy properties to speculate in these areas. They may only acquire entire buildings, and always with the obligation to use them for residential rental at a limited (capped) price.
- Large holders: They may only buy in order to live in them, which they must prove by means of a declaration before a notary and census registration within a period of 12 months (extendable for a further six months for justified reasons).
- Small holders: They may buy up to a maximum of four dwellings, provided they are for their own use, for the use of a family member up to the second degree or for renting at index price.
- Second homes: Individuals may purchase a second residence in a municipality other than that of their habitual residence, being considered an extension of the first.
Penalties and deadlines
The reform also includes a reinforcement of the sanctioning regime, with new very serious cases such as not using the property for the declared use, the simulation of legal transactions or fraud to evade the status of major tenant. Penalties may reach up to 1.5 million euros.
With this agreement, Catalonia will become the first autonomous community in Spain to provide municipalities with a specific tool to curb speculative purchases. The procedure will be carried out through a single reading with the aim of the regulation coming into force before the end of the first half of 2026.
