The Balearic Real Estate Developers Association (Proinba) estimates that there are currently some 30,000 families looking for housing in the archipelago.
Its vice-president, Óscar Carreras, explained in statements to Europa Press that this figure is an estimate taking into account the housing construction deficit in relation to the increase in population. Thus, since 2008 the population has grown in the Balearic Islands by some 200,000 people and some 50,000 homes have been put on the market, approximately 3,000 each year. From this, they calculate that between 120,000 and 150,000 people do not have a home, which would be equivalent to 30,000 families. For the association of developers, the main problem is that “very little housing” has been built. Precisely, in a normal year, before the real estate crisis of 2008, between 7,000 and 8,000 homes were built in the Balearic Islands each year, while currently this figure has fallen to 2,500-3,000 homes, most of which are single-family homes. Along these lines, Carreras stresses that the number of affordable multifamily housing units would have to be increased. “That is where the focus should be placed,” he adds, while pointing out that the association believes that projects in this direction will increase in the coming years. In his opinion, it is necessary to focus on the construction of multifamily housing without consuming new territory. The vice-president refers to the conversion of premises into housing, foreseen in the housing emergency decree law approved by the Government at the end of 2023. A measure that the promoters value positively, considering that it can help to “unblock and decongest” the current tension. It also points out the possibility of changing the use of premises to housing or to partially build on land that was intended for facilities “that have been undeveloped for 20 to 30 years”.
“Definitive solution”
As for “definitive” solutions to alleviate the housing crisis, Carreras points out that to compensate for the structural deficit since 2008, The Balearic Islands would have to build between 15,000 and 20,000 homes.
In this line, he indicates that there are developable soils that “have been stuck in the bureaucratic web for years and that make the processing of these soils get stuck”. According to him, with the decrees of measures on housing and administrative simplification are trying to shorten the deadlines as much as possible, since the sector “moves slowly” and between starting a building and finish it spend between two and four years. However, the vice president sees “green shoots” in the coming months and highlights the measures taken by the Balearic Government in housing, insisting that alleviating the current problem “is done from the public-private partnership”.
