Fewer and fewer owners in Spain are encouraged to put up apartments for rent and this negative phenomenon accelerates after the announcement of the Housing Law, according to the different data compiled by this newspaper.
On the one hand, the supply of rental homes has fallen by 28% in the last four years, according to figures from the park confirmed to EL MUNDO by the leading real estate portal in Spain, Idealista.
These data include the entire stage of Pedro Sánchez in the Government and show that the 288,000 homes that were offered in Spain in the first quarter of 2019 have fallen to 208,000 in the same period this year. Bad data for people looking for a flat to rent, because any drop in housing supply leads to price increases and access difficulties for the most vulnerable, according to most experts.
The outlook is for an even greater drop in the stock after the first impact of the mere announcement of the PSOE agreement with Esquerra and Bildu on the new Housing Law on the 14th and the statements by the Prime Minister himself.
After that weekend, sources from the insurance sector estimate to this newspaper that the contracting of rent non-payment insurance has since registered falls of up to 30% and real estate portals have also detected withdrawals of rental flats having decided to stop the Homeowners.. Rent non-payment insurance is considered a supply thermometer, because the number of homeowners who take advantage of the difficulty of evicting defaulting tenant occupants is growing.
In the leading portal, Idealista, they estimate, according to sources consulted, that the number of homes offered for rent ended the first quarter at the aforementioned 208,000, which is 5% less than in 2022 and 30% compared to 2021. , according to data provided to this newspaper. This is the lowest supply of this type of housing since 2013. The forecast in the sector is that these figures, which are already very negative, will worsen with the new Law and drop below 200,000 homes. The less supply, the more possibility that prices rise despite the partial controls imposed by the Government.
In the real estate sector they place the Housing Law as the third blow to the rental offer in this legislature. The first is, in his opinion, having perpetuated the restrictions on evictions beyond Covid. The second, also prolong rent increase caps born in the pandemic. And the third, this new regulation that complicates, in his opinion, evictions, and perpetually extends that rental price increases never exceed inflation. The short-term effect, according to different study services including the Bank of Spain, is beneficial for tenants who see their rise contained, but counterproductive in the medium term for everyone, including themselves.
The Encinar brothers, founders of Idealista, have been warning on social networks in recent days about the negative effects of the new Law. “The government finally gives the last straw to rent (…) it scares away rental investment and will not alleviate prices A disaster,” says Fernando Encinar.
For his brother Jesús, “the new housing law will disproportionately harm the offer of the cheapest flats.” He argues that an owner would rather rent a 3 million euro flat to a millionaire than 30 to 100,000.”
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