El Diario de la Vivienda

Barcelona City Council will raise the IBI surcharge on tourist-use homes to as much as 150%. The measure is supported by the new housing decrees and increases local taxation on this type of property, which already operates under a specific municipal licensing and control regime.

IBI is a municipal property tax paid by owners of real estate. Councils can adjust it within legal limits, and surcharges are used to make certain uses more expensive when the law allows it. In Barcelona, tourist housing has long been at the centre of debate because of its impact on residential supply and neighbourhood coexistence.

For owners of tourist flats, the change may mean a higher annual cost if it is approved and applied through the relevant tax ordinance. For the residential market, the real effect will depend on how owners respond and on the further development of tourist-housing regulation.

The Spanish government has again approved two housing decrees containing 21 measures that must be voted on by the Permanent Deputation. The texts restore the anti-eviction shield, changes to rental adverts, aid and financing for first-home purchases, support for construction and the extension until 2030 of the ban on purchases deemed speculative by funds. They also include controls linked to market value, with a valuation report, and exceptions tied to social use and good practice.

Decree-laws allow the executive to approve urgent measures, but they require parliamentary ratification. In housing, the debate brings together renting, buying, evictions, public financing and limits on transactions by major investors. One new feature is that rental adverts will have to include the reference index, a public indicator designed to compare rents in stressed areas or places with access problems.

For landlords and tenants, the impact will depend on which texts are ratified and how they are implemented. The key points to watch are advertising obligations, possible extensions or protections against eviction, and the conditions attached to home-purchase support.

The difficulty young people face in paying for housing has become a political issue in competitive districts in Pennsylvania, where it may affect control of the US Congress. Many young voters point to the cost of renting or buying as a central concern, but do not expect candidates to provide an effective answer.

The United States has a housing affordability problem driven by a combination of high prices, high rents, more demanding interest rates and a shortage of supply in many areas. Part of housing policy depends on local and state governments, such as planning rules, while the federal Congress can act on financing, subsidies or public programmes.

For landlords and tenants in Spain there is no direct effect. It does, however, reflect a trend shared by many economies: expensive housing is becoming more important electorally, but policy responses tend to be slow and divided between different levels of government.