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New Homes Construction in Spain

With COVID since March 2020 has generated less residential construction work in Spain: 52,390 homes have been started, 29% less (21,260 less) from January to August in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. In 2018, 64,358 homes were started and in 2019 78 789 according to the Spanish Ministry of Development.

In Catalonia, according to statistics from the ministry, in the first semester of 2020 only 1,341 homes were started, 65% less than in the same period in 2019. In Barcelona there are currently about 192 projects to build new homes, 3% less than in 2019.

The developers have stopped several new home developments due to the uncertainty about the severity of the crisis maintaining the company cash and due to the tightening of access to bank financing.

At the local level in Catalonia, two new laws have slowed down the activity: the obligation to sell 30% of the new homes as social housing for developments of more than 600 m2 and the regulation of rental prices from very recently.

In 2012, the construction of houses in Spain has hit the ground, with 34 288 homes started and has started to rise mainly since 2015, the market still had a large stock of homes to sell.

The good news for developers is that about 150,000 new-build homes are needed in Spain per year and fewer are being built … Housing is lacking in large metropolitan areas and in consolidated coastal areas.

According to experts from the Seopan sector, a recovery in housing construction was already noted in September after the sharp drop in previous months. They estimate that in 2020 we will have a 19% drop in the promotion of new housing. They estimate that visas for new construction completed in 2021 will stabilize at a figure close to 90,000 against 106,266 in 2019.