The opening of the First Canary Islands Housing Congress, led by President Fernando Clavijo, became a platform for launching an ambitious package of reforms seeking direct intervention in the market. The deputy mayor of southern Gran Canaria, Alejandro Marichal, seized the regional spotlight to make a direct appeal to the private sector to take a leading role in the solution, highlighting the tension between public intervention and the need for foreign investment in the tourist region.
A pilot project will be launched in Gran Canaria to mobilize vacant privately owned homes, offering owners guarantees and incentives in exchange for affordable rent (between 20% and 25% below market price). Marichal, whose jurisdiction encompasses the area with the greatest tourist and real estate pressure in the islands, emphasized the "high capacity for effort of the residents of the southern region" and encouraged the private sector to invest in the area. His remarks underscore the paradox facing southern Gran Canaria: while it generates most of the island's high-value tourism wealth, it is also the area where access to housing for its workers is most critical.
Marichal's appeal acts as a counterweight to the government's strong interventionist rhetoric, reminding everyone that any sustainable solution must involve private investment in new developments, not just regulation. Clavijo defended the most significant transformation of housing policies in the last decade, justifying demand-side intervention to prevent families from spending more than 30-35% of their income on housing payments, a "red line for preventing social exclusion."
The most significant announcement for foreign investors and real estate market analysts is the introduction of pioneering measures in Spain that will allow local councils to restrict home sales to non-residents in high-demand areas. Clavijo compared this measure to policies already implemented in European cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, and Munich, sending a clear message to speculative investors: the social function of housing is paramount. "They called us crazy when we said we also had to intervene on the demand side," Clavijo stated.
These initiatives demonstrate the Government's effort to combine the reactivation of public construction (more than 2.000 homes currently underway) with the mobilization of the private housing stock through incentives (such as tax breaks under the Canary Islands Investment Reserve) and, simultaneously, to impose barriers to foreign speculative pressure. The challenge of reconciling the demands of the free market that fuels the South with the social needs of its workers remains the most delicate balance in the Canary Islands' strategy.
