Spain at a Crossroads: Sánchez and the Housing Crisis That Can No Longer Be Ignored

Key takeaways

• Spain is not building enough homes to keep pace with household and population growth.
• Planning delays, limited buildable land and bureaucracy continue to restrict new housing supply.
• The Estates believes Spain needs a supply-led approach based on construction, ownership, investment and faster planning.
• Immigration and housing policy must be considered together when population growth increases demand for homes.
• Singapore shows how ambitious public housing policy can combine large-scale construction with widespread home ownership.
• Political change could alter Spain's approach to planning, taxation, investment and housing development.
• For property buyers, long-term fundamentals remain more important than short-term political headlines.

Spain goes to the polls on 29 November 2026, and for us at The Estates, this election represents a moment of clarity.

After eight years of Pedro Sánchez, Spain faces a housing shortage that has become impossible to ignore.

Households have multiplied faster than homes. Rents have risen. Property prices have climbed. Younger Spaniards are struggling to establish themselves independently. Planning remains painfully slow. Suitable land is difficult to bring forward. And population growth continues to add demand to a housing system already struggling to cope.

At The Estates, we believe Spain needs a change in housing philosophy.

We believe in home ownership, responsible private investment, sensible taxation, faster planning, appropriate land development and dramatically increasing the supply of homes.

Spain cannot regulate its way out of scarcity.

It has to build.

Why is Spain facing a housing crisis in 2026?

The fundamental problem is surprisingly simple:

Spain has not built enough homes for the number of households that need them.

According to the OECD, approximately 345,000 construction permits were issued between 2022 and 2024 while Spain created around 604,000 net new households.

The OECD also cites a Bank of Spain estimate of a housing shortage of approximately 600,000 homes between 2022 and 2025.

That gap matters.

When households increase substantially faster than housing supply, more people compete for the properties that already exist.

Prices rise.

Rents rise.

And affordability deteriorates.

Yet political debate has repeatedly concentrated on regulating the existing housing stock rather than addressing the fundamental shortage underneath it.

Has Sánchez solved Spain’s housing crisis?

After eight years in government, our view is clear:

No.

The Sánchez government has increasingly responded to housing pressure through intervention: rent controls, stronger tenant protections, restrictions affecting parts of the property market and repeated attempts to regulate how existing homes are owned and rented.

There is a legitimate political debate about each of those policies.

But none resolves the fundamental arithmetic.

If ten households need homes and only six suitable homes exist, regulating those six homes may change their price, their tenancy conditions or who gets access to them.

It does not create homes seven, eight, nine and ten.

Scarcity cannot be legislated out of existence.

It has to be addressed through supply.

Has population growth increased pressure on Spanish housing?

Yes.

This is another part of the debate that Spain needs to discuss openly and rationally.

Spain’s population has grown substantially, with immigration accounting for an important part of that growth.

Immigration also makes an important economic contribution. Spain requires workers, and foreign-born residents contribute throughout the economy.

But economic contribution does not eliminate physical reality.

Every additional household needs somewhere to live.

The Sánchez government has pursued immigration and regularisation policies that have increased the number of people able to live and work legally in Spain.

If government facilitates continued population growth, it must simultaneously ensure that housing, infrastructure, schools, healthcare and public services can expand accordingly.

Otherwise demand grows while supply remains constrained.

At The Estates, we believe population policy and housing policy cannot sensibly be separated.

The criticism is not of individuals seeking a better life.

It is of government policy that allows the population and number of households to increase without creating the conditions necessary to house them.

Why isn’t Spain building enough homes?

Spain does not lack demand.

It does not lack developers.

It does not lack architects or engineers.

And it certainly does not lack investors prepared to finance attractive projects.

What it lacks is sufficient housing coming through the pipeline.

The OECD has identified limited buildable land and lengthy urban-planning procedures as significant constraints on Spanish housing supply.

The Bank of Spain has likewise highlighted structural problems involving land, planning and development.

Spain’s planning system involves national, regional and municipal authorities, with different rules and responsibilities.

Projects can take years to move from concept to construction.

That creates cost.

It creates uncertainty.

And uncertainty discourages investment.

What about environmental protection and the EU Green Agenda?

Environmental protection matters.

Spain’s coastline, countryside, historic communities and natural landscapes are among the country’s greatest assets.

Nobody serious about Spain’s long-term prosperity should advocate uncontrolled development.

But environmental protection and housing construction cannot be treated as mutually exclusive objectives.

Spain must be capable of doing both.

The European Commission itself has recognised obstacles involving buildable land, planning and permitting.

The question should therefore be:

How can Spain protect what genuinely needs protecting while making responsible development dramatically easier where new housing is required?

Good government should be capable of answering that question.

Spain needs a supply revolution

For The Estates, the answer begins with supply.

Release appropriate land.

Simplify planning.

Accelerate permits.

Create greater legal certainty.

Build infrastructure.

Encourage responsible domestic and international investment.

Reduce unnecessary bureaucratic barriers.

Support developers willing to build.

Expand affordable housing.

And create serious public-housing programmes alongside private development.

Spain does not need another political argument about how to divide an insufficient number of homes.

Spain needs more homes.

A different philosophy from the Spanish right

The housing proposals coming from PP and Vox reflect a substantially different philosophy from the interventionist approach pursued by the current government.

The Partido Popular has emphasised increasing construction, making more land available, accelerating planning and administrative processes and reducing parts of the tax burden associated with housing.

Vox has advocated further land liberalisation, lower property taxation and significant reductions in bureaucratic barriers.

Those proposals reflect several principles with which The Estates strongly identifies:

Supply. Ownership. Investment. Legal certainty. Lower barriers to construction.

For us, these are not abstract political slogans.

They are fundamental ingredients of a functioning property market.

If Spain has too few homes, Spain must make it easier to create more homes.

What could Spain learn from Singapore?

Perhaps one of the most interesting comparisons lies thousands of kilometres away.

Singapore is obviously not Spain.

Its geography, institutions, political system and relationship between government and land are fundamentally different.

Its policies therefore cannot simply be copied.

But its ambition deserves attention.

Singapore’s Housing & Development Board has built more than 1.25 million homes, with close to 80% of Singapore’s resident population living in HDB housing.

More importantly, Singapore has not treated public housing exclusively as permanent social renting.

Home ownership forms a central part of the model.

Government plans communities, develops infrastructure, facilitates construction and helps qualifying citizens acquire homes.

Singapore effectively treats housing as strategic national infrastructure.

That is the lesson Spain should consider.

Why can’t Spanish public housing be aspirational?

Public housing should not automatically mean unattractive buildings constructed as cheaply as possible.

Why shouldn’t Spain build beautiful new neighbourhoods?

Why shouldn’t they contain parks, schools, shops, public transport and excellent architecture?

Why shouldn’t government-owned land be combined with private capital and development expertise?

Why shouldn’t affordable public housing provide pathways towards ownership?

Why shouldn’t young Spanish families be able to buy well-designed homes within communities deliberately created for the next generation?

This is where Spain’s housing debate could become far more ambitious.

Instead of government merely regulating scarcity, government can help create abundance.

Will the November election affect Spanish property prices?

Political change can affect property markets, but buyers should not expect an immediate transformation.

Housing moves slowly.

Even if planning reform began immediately after an election, land must still be prepared, projects financed, licences granted, infrastructure built and homes constructed.

Meaningful supply reform therefore takes years.

But expectations matter.

Developers and investors commit capital today based partly on what they believe the regulatory and taxation environment will look like tomorrow.

A stable environment that encourages construction can unlock investment.

An uncertain environment can postpone it.

Should international buyers wait until after the Spanish election?

For most serious buyers, the individual property remains more important than the election timetable.

A scarce, correctly priced property in an exceptional location does not automatically become a poor investment because Spain changes government.

Likewise, an overpriced property does not become attractive simply because somebody likes an election result.

Buyers should concentrate on fundamentals:

Location.

Scarcity.

Comparable sales.

Legal security.

Build quality.

Future supply.

Rental or resale demand.

Ongoing costs.

And the reason for buying.

Politics matters.

The property still matters more.

Is Spanish property still a good investment in 2026?

Spain remains one of Europe’s most attractive property markets precisely because demand remains so strong.

Domestic buyers need homes.

International buyers continue to choose Spain.

Workers move towards successful cities.

Retirees choose the Mediterranean.

Families want second homes.

Entrepreneurs and professionals relocate.

Tourism remains enormous.

And desirable land in the best locations is inherently finite.

That does not mean every property is a good investment.

But scarcity combined with sustained demand remains one of the most powerful fundamentals in real estate.

What should Spain’s next housing strategy look like?

At The Estates, our position is straightforward.

Build more.

Plan better.

Approve faster.

Tax intelligently.

Encourage ownership.

Support responsible investment.

Connect immigration and population policy with housing and infrastructure policy.

Protect genuinely valuable landscapes and environments.

But allow sensible development where Spain desperately needs homes.

Expand social and affordable housing while recognising that private developers and investors are essential partners rather than enemies.

And above all, stop pretending that regulating an inadequate housing supply is a substitute for increasing it.

Spain is choosing more than a government

The election on 29 November is about considerably more than property.

But housing provides a powerful illustration of the broader argument taking place about Spain’s future.

What role should government play?

Should prosperity be built primarily through intervention and redistribution—or by creating conditions in which people can build, invest, own and prosper?

How should Spain manage immigration and population growth?

How much should people be taxed when buying and owning property?

How easy should it be to build?

And what kind of country does Spain want to leave to the generation currently struggling to afford its first home?

At The Estates, we believe in ownership, enterprise, investment, responsibility and growth.

We believe successful businesses should be encouraged to invest.

We believe young people should have a realistic path towards owning their homes.

We believe Spain can protect its extraordinary environment while still building the homes its population requires.

And we believe government should create the conditions for prosperity rather than attempting to regulate its way out of scarcity.

After eight years of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s housing shortage remains.

The country now has an opportunity to ask whether the philosophy behind its housing policy should change.

For us, the most important question is remarkably simple:

How does Spain start building enough homes again?

Because until Spain answers that question, everything else is an argument about who gets a share of a shortage.

The Estates
Independent insight into property, markets and life in Spain.