Rents that are renewed will be limited to a maximum increase of 2% at least until September. This was confirmed this Wednesday by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who reported that all the measures put in place to counteract the economic crisis generated by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia would be extended. A measure that has put landlords on alert, who consider that it will cause a collapse in the supply of rental housing.
The Idealista real estate portal also points out that the measure will have an economic impact for landlords of 560 million euros, which will join the 479 million that it has already cost to limit rents between March 30 and June 30.
In total, the caps would cost the owners one billion euros.
“The extension of the measure would be a new blow to the already battered housing stock for rent. The Government maintains the pressure on homeowners, mostly individuals, without offering any compensation or help for it. Once again, it is the families with rental homes, which, like the rest, are affected by high inflation, who must pay a significant part of the government aid, ”said the spokesman for Idealista, Francisco Iñareta, in a report published this Thursday.
The portal acknowledges, however, that it still does not know the small print of this extension. Between March 30 and June 30, the 2% rent limit affected all landlords, large and small. It is foreseeable that this will continue in the next extension, but the Government has not yet confirmed that this will be the case.
Idealista has not been the only market player to denounce government interventionism. “This measure burdens the owners, who are also suffering from the escalation of inflation, the social problem of housing, without receiving any type of compensation. This limitation places the market in a delicate situation, which discourages investment in rentals and which will divert supply to the sales sector”, explained the Asval homeowners’ association, which has also criticized the fact that the Administration “transfers the housing problem private owners to solve it, when it is the responsibility of the Public Administrations».
From Alquiler Seguro they remember that the residential offer in Barcelona has been reduced by 50% since 2019 due to the «interventionist spirit» of the Generalitat, which has «caused imbalances between supply and demand». Contrary to what they intended, the authorities have caused the supply to contract, preventing a drop in prices. The imbalance between demand and supply generates prices that increasingly put more pressure on household income »explains Sergi Gargallo, general director of Rent Insurance.
