Neither rent caps, nor rental bonuses for young people, nor ICO guarantees, nor limitations on tourist apartments, nor extraordinary protection against non-payments are effective measures to address the housing crisis facing Spain. This is what the Bank of Spain points out in its 2025 Annual Report published yesterday. The Bank of Spain estimates the housing deficit at 750,000 homes, which is strangling the Spanish economy and preventing young people from leaving their parents’ homes.
“If we have a deficit of 750,000, closing it only depends on how much the housing supply can grow relative to household creation. If we are able to boost that, it will take less time, but at the current production rate, it will take quite a while because we cannot stop population dynamics,” David López Salido, the supervisor’s Director General of Economics, stated yesterday during the presentation of the study in Madrid.
“The public housing stock is dramatically different in Spain compared to the international level,” said López Salido. In Spain, the proportion of public housing over the total number of primary residences is 1.5%, compared to places like the Netherlands, where one out of every three homes is public.
“We are trying to highlight the importance that the current housing situation primarily requires thinking about supply-side factors, and regarding demand-side factors, policies should be used that are more focused on very specific and temporary vulnerable groups because they tend to generate distortions. The problem is not solved with demand-side measures,” said López Salido. “And price controls are demand-side measures.”
