Catalonia Targets Property Speculation

"For many people in Catalonia, the housing market no longer feels like a place to find a home - it feels like a battlefield. Rising rents, limited supply and investor-driven buying have pushed housing anxiety to the forefront of daily life. Now, the Catalan government says it wants to push back. The regional executive is preparing a new law aimed at curbing speculative property purchases, using taxation rather than outright bans."

"The message from the government is clear: housing should be lived in - not stockpiled. Paneque was direct about the limits of what the government can do. "We cannot ban buying property," she said. Instead, the Catalan authorities are looking for ways to discourage purchases that do not serve a residential purpose. The solution they are working on is a new tax on property purchases that are not intended for people to live in."

""This is a way of moving these properties into the market we care about most," Paneque told ACN, referring to long-term rentals rather than empty flats or investment-only assets. According to the government, the draft law should be ready in the first quarter of 2026, though key details are still being finalised. The proposed measure would not apply across all of Catalonia. Instead, it would be targeted at "tense" housing zones, where demand has far outstripped supply."

Catalan authorities plan a new tax to curb speculative property purchases and steer homes toward long-term rental use. The measure targets purchases that are not intended for residential occupation and aims to discourage investor-driven buying rather than impose outright purchase bans. The tax will be focused on high-pressure or "tense" housing zones where demand far outstrips supply, not applied across all of Catalonia. The draft law is expected in the first quarter of 2026, with key details still being finalised. The objective is to increase the supply of homes for residents by making speculation less attractive.

Read at Euro Weekly News