Next Generation funds a force for good in Spanish housing

The European Union’s Next Generation funds have the potential to make a big difference to Spain’s housing market according to Barcelona’s former mayor Joan Clos.

“It means that we have different levels of intervention, both in single apartments, in multi-storey buildings and in neighbourhoods – the program has been divided between these three categories and now we have a lot of movement around that,” he said.

He said the funds are quite relevant. The population is aging, family size is diminishing and there are many projects to subdivide housing and convert it to apartments and, with support, this process can be accelerated.

“We need to use the opportunity of climate change both to do additional investment in energy efficiency, but on top of that, to develop more housing units.”

Increasing the supply of housing will help control the Europe-wide house price problem, he pointed out.

The population is still relocating from rural areas to big cities which is having the dual effect of adding to falling values in less populated areas and adding to the price pressure in successful cities. “Therefore these cities is where we need to invest more in affordable housing,” he said.

Please click on the video above to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.