The Balearic Government will allow building heights to be raised in Palma to minimize the saw teeth that exist in the Balearic capital, basically in the Eixample area, where the various urban regulations have caused a huge mess with two-story buildings along with eight-story buildings or ten heights. The norm that the new Government of Marga Prohens is preparing will materialize in a housing emergency decree law that will be ready in September.
Prohens' proposal consists of reformulating the density to allow growth in height in neighborhoods with significant differences in order to achieve better use of the land. Environmental sectors have already opposed this announcement by the new Executive, since they consider that it will cause a greater population density in areas of Palma for which additional services and facilities are not foreseen.
The decree will also include facilities for the conversion of commercial premises into homes, as well as the possibility of dividing large, old-style homes that the new Government considers do not meet the current needs of the population.
The Minister of Housing, Marta Vidal, explains that the intention of this urgent housing decree is to bring more homes to the market without this implying a greater consumption of territory. She assures that it is essential to take urgent measures to try to stop the housing emergency that exists on the islands.
The data supports the critical housing situation in the archipelago. The Balearic Islands is the second autonomous community, only behind Madrid, with the most expensive house price. According to data from the property registrars, the square meter cost 3,027 euros in the first quarter of the year, when the Spanish average was 1,921 euros. The average mortgages that are contracted on the islands reach 230,929 euros compared to the 141,446 euros on average in the other communities. The direct consequence is that a citizen of the Balearic Islands spends 57% of his salary, 1,133 euros per month, to pay the mortgage, when the average mortgage is 683.5 euros per month.
The price of housing has not stopped rising in recent years despite the fact that the previous government of Francina Armengol approved an innovative legislation that, among other measures, established the possibility of expropriating the use of empty houses from large holders. The result has been rather meager. Since the regulation came into force, only a total of 36 homes have been expropriated.
Despite its low effects, the Government of Marga Prohens has already announced that it will reverse these "interventionist" measures of its predecessor with a new law. Work is already underway to include the possibility of ceding public land to private developers so that they can build rental homes at an appraised price and manage them themselves for a period of time that has not yet been defined.
One of the most controversial measures being prepared by the new PP Government is the legalization of out-of-order constructions in the archipelago. It is estimated that in Mallorca alone there are 30,000 illegal homes on rural land with demolition orders already prescribed. The new Executive will propose that they be legalized in exchange for rehabilitating the property with energy and water efficiency measures and the payment of a fine.
