The two large metropolitan areas of Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, are preparing for the boost in housing construction as a formula to try to contain high prices. They carry it out with particularities that make the number of projects in Madrid and its surroundings quadruple those planned for the Barcelona area.
According to data from CBRE, the real estate management giant, Madrid and its surrounding municipalities have plans underway to build 147,516 homes within ten years, with large projects of more than 10,000 properties each, which are Nuevo Norte, Los Cerros , Berrocales and Valdecarros. Barcelona and its suburbs, on the other hand, add up to 39,182 homes, with the Marina, Sagrera and El Prat developments at the top. The two cities and their surroundings should build - or at least it is planned - almost 190,000 new homes before 2033.
Madrid is at the forefront of projects that have already been approved, that is to say, that have passed the necessary urban planning procedures. They should be used to build 128,216 flats, while in Barcelona the figure is reduced to 13,583.
Eduard Mendiluce, CEO of Aliseda and Anticipa, which manage Blackstone's assets in Spain and half of Sareb's, believes that the differences in promotions between Madrid and Barcelona are mainly due to three reasons: the topography, the network transport and urban plans. The geographical issue is insurmountable for the Catalan capital. But, since the city cannot avoid the sea and the mountains to build more homes, Spain's main land developer is committed to thinking about "the great Barcelona": "We should be smarter and think about coordination effective for the entire metropolitan area", he points out. Celso Gómez, Culmia's director of analysis and strategy, is committed to regenerating industrial districts, as has been done in Marina del Prat Vermell (Culmia operates there), as well as La Mercedes and La Sagrera.
Developments should be designed with 4 million inhabitants in mind, instead of the 1.7 million who live in the city.
The second element is the transport network, which is more effective in Madrid than in Barcelona, according to Mendiluce. The third difference affects urban plans, with a more global "strategic approach" in Madrid.
Javier Jiménez, Director of Land at CBRE España, also highlights the orographic restrictions of Barcelona and the lack of availability, since it has a lower amount in number and size of land on which to develop. "In recent years, in Madrid there has been an important reactivation of urban planning, which has led to the activation of many areas that had been frozen in recent times", he adds.
The construction and development sector is sharpening strategies for what they call "the housing legislature". The big companies in the sector have been strongly committed to finding new housing solutions for a few years, especially in the so-called stressed areas. Madrid and Barcelona are. The Housing Law, halfway through the year since it came into force, has not solved these problems.
For Mendiluce, the plans are, in reality, "a drop in the ocean". "Madrid and Barcelona would need double the number of homes that have been projected" for several reasons, including the projected increase in population and the need to offer social solutions.
Madrid is moving faster in affordable housing. The president of the national association of constructors (CNC), Pedro Fernández Alén, emphasizes that, in Madrid, "the VIVE plan is working very well". "One of the good things about the new Housing law is that it promotes public-private collaboration and the Community of Madrid is taking advantage of it to make public land concessions for 65 years so that companies can manage it", he adds.
The main problem faced by builders and developers is the lack of land. To try to solve it, the first executive of Aliseda and Anticipa states that it is essential to speed up urban planning regulations on a national scale.
In Catalonia, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) has, in the public information phase, the Urban Director (PDU), which foresees the construction of 217,000 homes until 2050. Gómez, from Culmia, also points out that "in Madrid there is more political stability than in recent years compared to the situation in Barcelona, which implies, at least, that no more difficulties are introduced into the legislative procedures".
