RIGHT-WING Partido Popular (PP) leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo has pledged to build one million homes if elected in 2027, describing Spain’s housing crisis as ‘the country’s number one emergency’.
Speaking to reporters in Madrid on Wednesday, Feijoo also promised a 60% tax cut for young homebuyers, saying Spain’s youth deserved ‘more than a shared flat and shared fridge shelves’.
The pledge comes as Spain gears up for a heated general election next year, following eight years of Socialist PSOE rule under Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is now serving his third consecutive term.
Stressing that housing was ‘Spain’s biggest problem’, Feijoo said: “This is the country’s most pressing priority: offering young people more than just discounted summer train tickets, more than living in shared flats and dividing up shelf space in the fridge.”
He added: “It shouldn’t be easier to get a home by squatting than by buying one.”
Spain’s housing crisis has become one of the country’s biggest political issues, driven by soaring prices, rising rents and housing shortages in high-demand areas – particularly cities and coastal regions.
Between November and December 2025, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported a 12.9% increase in house prices compared with the previous year, a record high.
To combat the crisis, the Bank of Spain estimates the country needs around 750,000 additional homes to meet demand.
However, it has also warned that shortages are being worsened by population growth and tourism pressure.
Experts warn the trend is making homes unaffordable for large sections of Spain’s population, particularly young people.
Only 36.7% of under-35s in Spain own their home, according to the INE, while many young people remain living with their parents or struggle with rising rents.
PM Sanchez introduced Spain’s first Housing Law in 2023 in a bid to ease the spiralling crisis.
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The rules allow Spain’s regions to regulate rents, while offering tax incentives to landlords to keep them low and strengthening tenant protections.
Sanchez has also pledged to build hundreds of thousands of new homes, with the government saying more than 80,000 affordable rental homes have already been delivered.
The government has also launched support schemes for young people, including a rental voucher benefiting around 66,000 tenants and government-backed mortgage guarantees that it says have already helped around 50,000 buyers.
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