The real estate market boom after the pandemic cooled in 2023. According to data published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), home sales decreased by 9.7% last year compared to the record figures of 2022.. The mortgage firm also plummeted 17.8%, in a context marked by the rate increases undertaken by the European Central Bank (ECB).. In fact, the average interest rate closed the year at its highest level since 2015. Even so, despite the tightening of access to financing, in 2023 more mortgages were signed and more apartments were sold than in 2019.

Last year, a total of 586,913 home sales and purchases were registered, a figure that was far from reaching the 650,265 transactions recorded in the previous year.. This 9.7% drop in home purchases occurred after 2022 saw an unprecedented sales volume since the real estate bubble.. Operations then recorded their second highest growth in 15 years, with an increase of 14.8%, only surpassed by the 34.8% increase in 2021 after the pandemic.

In this way, the decline in 2023 breaks two years of consecutive increases in the real estate market. This is the second largest drop in eleven years, only ahead of the 16.9% collapse in 2020, when just over 420,000 sales and purchases were made.. However, the sales volume in 2023 exceeds the 505,467 operations in 2019 by 16.1%. “In absolute figures, 2023 has been a great year from the point of view of home purchases,” says Ferran Font, director of Estudio des apartments.com, who recognizes the “significant drop” compared to the previous year.. “2023 is closing with great numbers, but much more moderate than those of a record 2022, so we are in a more sustainable scenario,” he values.

Only in the month of December 2023, 36,698 homes were purchased, 15.6% less than in the same period of the previous year. Specifically, 6,878 new and 29,820 second-hand apartments were purchased, 11.9% and 16.4% less respectively than in the last month of 2022. Throughout the year, the sale and purchase of used homes decreased by 10.8 %, totaling 476,019 operations, while transactions carried out on new apartments fell by 4.8%, to 110,894.

With the declines at the end of the year, home sales continued to decline for eleven months, after having already shown the first signs of slowdown at the end of 2022. The deepest year-on-year drop was recorded in the month of September, in which 23.7% fewer sales and purchases were recorded than in the previous year.. In monthly terms, operations decreased by 21.7% in the last month of 2023 compared to the 46,888 homes sold in November.

In parallel, the mortgage firm also sank in 2023, although the average amount rose 2% to 142,074 euros. Last year, a total of 381,560 loans were granted for the purchase of housing, 17.8% less than in 2022. In this way, the barrier of 400,000 annual loans surpassed in 2021 and 2022 was not crossed, when the number of firms recorded its highest volume since 2011 after growing by 11% compared to the previous year.. The fall of 2023 broke the upward trend in the granting of mortgages since 2014, only interrupted in 2020 by the stoppage of the pandemic. Even so, the volume of signatures registered last year exceeded the 361,291 loans in 2019.

The granting of loans for home purchases showed the first symptoms of slowdown already in the final stretch of 2022, ending the year with a year-on-year drop of 8.9% in December. After a slight recovery in January, the mortgage firm chained eleven consecutive declines in 2023 and closed the last month of the year with a collapse of 17% – 24,927 loans were granted -, still carrying the impact of the tightening of monetary policy in the eurozone by the ECB. “The working days of last December, the maintenance of interest rates by the banks and the high housing prices are some of the keys that have affected the low figures of mortgage firms,” explains Simone Colombelli. , mortgage director at iAhorro.

The escalation of official rates peaked at the end of last year, reaching a level of 4.5% at which the monetary authority has remained immobile in its last three meetings. According to INE data, the average rate signed on home mortgages returned in December to the 3.32% reached in October, its highest level since 2015 and more than six tenths above the 2.65% at which the year began. anus. Specifically, the average rate in December was 3.07% for variable rate mortgages and 3.54% for fixed mortgages, which continue to be the preferred option for buyers, although they are losing strength.. Throughout 2023, loans linked to the Euribor constituted 40% of mortgages signed, compared to the 29% they represented in 2022.

“Looking to 2024, the situation will continue to be marked by the evolution of the Euribor, as well as by the uncertainty generated by both the consequences of the different international armed conflicts and the application of the new housing law,” predicts the director of apartment studies. com. Although the president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, has pointed out that the first relief in official interest rates will not arrive until the summer, the Euribor – the reference index for the majority of variable rate mortgages – has already abandoned its upward trend at the end of last year, closing December below 4% for the first time in six months. If this trend continues, the improvement in access to financing conditions could once again stimulate home buying and selling throughout the year.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, announced this Thursday that the Government will reactivate the procedures to modify the Land and Urban Rehabilitation Law in March. This was stated at an informative lunch organized by the Club Siglo XXI, where he insisted that the objective of the regulatory change is to provide “stability”, “certainty” and “legal security” to urban development in Spain.

According to Rodríguez, the Council of Ministers will approve in the coming weeks the draft law to modify the land law, which regulates the rights and obligations of land owners in Spain.. The minister already expressed at the end of January in her appearance at the Housing and Urban Agenda Commission of the Congress of Deputies the will of her department to modify the current regulations to address the problem of urban development. The change aims to adapt the urban planning regulations to the principles of the Spanish Urban Agenda, promoting sustainable, integrated and inclusive urban development.

The processing of the text that is expected to return to the Council of Ministers in March was pending in the last legislature. The Government approved the draft bill in December 2022, but the early elections prevented it from starting its parliamentary journey.. Rodríguez has expressed confidence that the regulatory change will reach the Congress of Deputies on this occasion, which must give its approval.. “I hope to be able to count on the majority support of the parliamentary groups to provide the tranquility and security that urban planning needs in order to meet the need for housing in our country,” he said.

On a more immediate horizon, Rodríguez has confirmed that the Ministry of Housing will publish in February the rental reference price index, a tool provided for in the housing law and with which the price of rentals in those areas that are stressed. “The index will be ready no matter what before February 29,” Rodríguez assured. The only community that for the moment has shown interest in using this instrument to limit the price of rentals is Catalonia, although to do so it is first necessary for the Generalitat to present the documentation required for the declaration of the stressed areas.

The head of Housing has assured that the index could be “operational” to be applied as early as March, although she has stressed that its publication is independent of its application in stressed areas.. “No community may ask to apply it, so it will operate as reference data,” he clarified, while encouraging regional governments to request the declaration of stressed areas in order to take advantage of this new tool.

Rodríguez has also stated that “very soon” the agreement pending signature with the Official Credit Institute (ICO) will be ready to launch a line of loans to public and private developers for the construction of affordable housing. To this end, it is intended to dedicate 4,000 million euros from the Recovery Plan. “Since it became known that we are working on this instrument, 34 developers have been interested with the idea of building 12,000 homes,” the minister said.

According to the minister, all these measures are aimed at improving the accessibility of housing. “The objective must be that, regardless of the area of Spain or personal or family condition, no one dedicates more than 30% of their income to housing,” he expressed. To achieve this, Rodríguez has asked for the collaboration of the autonomous communities and the private sector. “We need a country alliance that multiplies efforts, and brings together all administrations and entities,” he stated.

Hundreds of tractors take to the streets of Madrid this Wednesday to protest the situation in agriculture throughout the European Union, which puts at risk a fundamental sector for the Spanish economy, such as the primary sector, from which thousands of families live.

Mónica, nurse, daughter and granddaughter of farmers, come from Albacete to support the demands. “It cannot be that they crush the primary sector with bureaucracy, with taxes… there are products that in the end have to be thrown away, they are prices that have to be valued and put on the table,” he explains together with his colleague Víctor.

“The Spanish countryside is dying, due to the new sick policy,” says one of the banners displayed at the Puerta de Alcalá, where protesters have gathered who will later head towards the Ministry of Agriculture, in Atocha.. “There are too many papers, there are no solutions. Essential sector in terminal phase”, reads another of the slogans of the march.

“I come from Segovia,” says María, who works in an agricultural cooperative and has come by bus to the capital.. “The measures that have been taken are not enough, there should be more people at the table,” he claims while holding a flag of the Union of Unions, one of the organizations that the Government has not considered as interlocutors – unlike others such as UPA. , COAG and Asaja—and that has called for the tractor-trailers with five columns this Wednesday.

The objective of Unión de Uniones is to demand solutions for the countryside against the department led by Luis Planas, since they consider that the 18 measures announced last Thursday are insufficient and address the problems of the countryside “in a superficial manner”. “None of them are going to allow any of the sector's problems to be fixed,” warns Luis Cortés, state coordinator of the organization.

People from all over Spain and of all ages have gathered in the protests.. Santiago came this morning from Paredes, a small town in the province of Cuenca. “They have locked them up in Arganda like cattle, they have not let them out,” he protests about the colleagues who have been prevented by the Civil Guard from entering the capital for exceeding the limit of 500 tractors that the Government Delegation had authorized to enter the the streets of Madrid. “They haven't paid me the subsidy, nothing because of the drought, the fertilizer is so expensive that it can't even be thrown away, the diesel is skyrocketing, we have to plant what they say…. the rules are impossible to comply with,” he laments.

Dressed in a hat and well wrapped up in the morning cold with which the center of Madrid has woken up, Juan, who comes from the north of Cáceres, from Mohedas de Granadilla, livens up the morning with traditional music from the Extremaduran shepherds. “The food chain law is not complied with, products are paid below cost,” denounces this farmer, who is part of an association of olive growers and who has come to make “noise and bring some music” to the central Plaza. of the independence. “Products that come from abroad are almost poisoned and should have the same requirements as Spanish ones,” he says.

Alfredo Romero, a farmer from Cuenca, went to the Ministry of Agriculture this Wednesday. The protester assures that the day has developed “calmly” and “without incidents” and that at 5:00 p.m. he abandons the call because, although he would like to stay longer, the bus with which he returns to Cuenca “is not waiting for anyone.”. Furthermore, he highlights the importance of attending the demonstration because “if you don't make noise, no one will listen to you.”

José Carlos, a farmer from Estremera, a town in the southeast of Madrid, left with his tractor in the direction of the heart of the capital at six in the morning and assures that at the height of Arganda del Rey, halfway along the route, they have stopped and they have not let them leave. After the situation was resolved – the Civil Guard has collaborated with them and guided them, according to 20minutos -, they have taken the path again and have participated in an experience that they describe as “incredible.”. The objective, as he remembers, is “to fight for their rights and those of the entire population.”

From the vicinity of the Atocha station and with the headquarters of the department directed by Luis Planas in the background, Ángel, another farmer who arrived by bus from Villacañas, regrets that they have not allowed the rest of the tractors that have remained stopped on the promenade to pass. of Delights. “They told us that they were going to let 500 tractors pass and they have only let 30 pass,” says the protester.

Farmer protests have taken place throughout Spain over the last two weeks. The field asks that the food chain law be correctly applied to put an end to sales at a loss, as well as a reduction in bureaucracy when accessing aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and an equalization of the requirements required of imports to avoid unfair competition.

The Government's partners have been on the verge of colliding this Wednesday regarding the suppression of short flights, in an episode in Congress that has been resolved with Sumar lowering its intention to explore the possibility of expanding the scope of the elimination of short flights , to include trips between points with alternatives of three hours by train, and limiting it to journeys of 2.5 hours, as already contained in the coalition agreement between Pedro Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz.

Junts has also joined the support of the transactional amendment approved by the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge commission with which PSOE and Sumar have ended up agreeing on a wording identical to that already agreed upon by both parties in October of last year, within the agreement coalition.

Thus, these three parties have supported a non-legal proposal that asks the Government to “promote the reduction of domestic flights on those routes in which there is a rail alternative with a duration of less than 2.5 hours, except in cases of connection with hub airports that link with international routes”. Also to “analyze the directive that is being prepared within the European Commission on the taxation of energy products”, which provides for a tax on kerosene and which the airline sector is asking to veto, and “analyze the European initiatives related to restriction of private jet flights.

This has been the final request that Congress makes to the Government and that was based on a more ambitious claim raised by Sumar, which proposed going beyond the coalition agreement and “preparing a report that analyzes the reduction of emissions that would mean promoting the reduction of short-haul flights with a three-hour rail alternative, identifying all the impacts that this measure would have.

Sumar has defended the initiative as a “necessity” to fight climate change and reduce CO2 emissions and given the evidence that other countries such as France have done so.. Its deputy Júlia Boada has recalled that the French Government agreed with Air France to suppress three flights in exchange for rescuing its flag airline during Covid, without in Spain, where the Government helped “unconditionally” with 1,000 million to the airlines. have demanded anything of the sort. The airline sector indicates that this suppression of flights would only affect six that connect points less than three hours by train and would not cut more than 1.07% of emissions attributable to aviation and 0.21% to the sector. of transport. On the contrary, it warns that it would harm tourism, since it would affect flights that are largely international connections to or from a third destination.

During the debate, the PSOE warned that it would not support an initiative that could harm tourism. “We will not do anything that affects our tourism,” his deputy Arnau Ramírez has warned before proceeding to negotiate with Sumar the transactional amendment that has finally left the text the same as that already agreed upon, without the -socialist- ministers of Ecological Transition and Transport have shown interest in this issue.

The PSOE conditioned its support on the protection of the tourism industry and has placed more emphasis on the replacement of kerosene with sustainable fuels (SAF) in aviation. Also in line with what the airline sector requests, in intermodality that allows connecting high speed with airports.

“To eliminate short flights, we must take into account that there is a railway network that is up to the task, connecting all the large airports in our country with trains and especially high-speed trains.. That will make it easier and more bearable for all people to see that we can pollute less without economic harm to our people, companies and tourism,” said Ramírez, who has especially influenced the dependence on air transport that exists in the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla. “I do not agree that only by eliminating flights we improve the environment, also in the investment and development of fuels that replace kerosene,” he stressed.

For the PP, Guillermo Mariscal has also alluded to the aviation sector's defense of short flights that are often a stage of international flights that would be done in the same way but from airports in other countries.. For this reason, he has accused “the left's obsession with being the best in the class” of making policies with “serious harm to citizens.”. As he said, there is an “alternative” that involves “changing sustainable fuels, which can be done.”

Agricultural fuel aid

In this Wednesday's session of the parliamentary commission and in full protest by farmers in the center of Madrid, a non-legislative proposal of the PP has also been advanced by which Congress urges the Government to “prepare and present within the deadline maximum of three months a Shock Plan for the promotion of biofuels” for the primary sector.

Until then, the popular deputy Juan Diego Requena has demanded that the Executive extend aid for the fuel used by farmers, ranchers, foresters and the fishing sector until there is an affordable sustainable alternative.. “We propose that you maintain the bonuses and reductions in special taxes on fuels for professional use until there are sustainable alternatives for farms,” he said.

The Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, announced last week after meeting with agricultural organizations that the incentives in force will remain, with an effective rate of 3.3 cents per liter instead of 37.9 – and the validity during 2024 of the reductions of 35% of the diesel bill and 15% of plastics and fertilizers in personal income tax. This Wednesday, the socialist deputy Araceli Poblador responded that the Government “has left room for maneuver to extend the measures to mitigate the rise in prices if necessary.”

On the contrary, PP and Vox have been left alone in the parliamentary commission, once again demanding that the Government change its plans to close all nuclear power plants between 2027 and 2035, in defense of another non-law proposal in which the party of far-right asked to “cancel the closure schedule” and allow the installation of new reactors and the PP, a “moratorium on closure” until they heard from the experts on “the need to promote and update the nuclear park.”

PP-Sumar 'Clamp' against depopulation

On the other hand, the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge commission has been the scene of the 'clamp' that the PP and Sumar have made to the PSOE in their demand that the Government fully execute and expand the operating aid that encourages the implementation of companies in the three provinces most affected by depopulation, Teruel, Cuenca and Soria, which they have agreed to describe as “ridiculous”.

Through the Chunta Aragonista deputy, Jorge Pueyo, Sumar has been the only group that has presented an amendment to the PP's non-law proposal that urged the Government to recover the special regime for the self-employed in Cuenca, Soria and Teruel, which allowed a flat rate of 80 euros for 3 years, regardless of your annual income. Also to implement “immediately” the operating aid in these three provinces with which the EU allows reductions in labor costs of up to 20%.

Puello has shown his support for this initiative – “regardless of who proposes it” – and has criticized that the Government's aid only reaches 5% instead of 20% and not to labor costs, but to the costs of common contingencies. , which are also “delayed” and stranded due to the non-existence of the General State Budget for 2024 at the moment.

His amendment was to demand that not only companies that set up new establishments in these provinces but also those that already exist can benefit from this aid.. The PP has accepted it and has moved forward with the votes in favor of Vox and Sumar and the abstention of the PSOE, which has reproached the PP for going against aid created by the socialist Government and has criticized a bill ” liar, cheat” and “poorly written”. “I throw you a challenge,” said the socialist Luis Alfonso Rey to the PP. “If [operating aid] is improved in the Budgets, are the parliamentarians of Cuenca, Soria and Teruel going to support them?”. Bildu and Junts have also abstained.