The apartments against the housing crisis will not arrive before five years

Palma4,500 homes intended for residents only in Palma and a similar figure in the rest of the Balearic Islands. These are the forecasts of the Palma City Council and the Government to face the housing emergency that citizens are suffering. These measures derive mainly from the legislation promoted by Prohens, based on the promotion of strategic residential projects. This is a figure that the sector considers reasonable, but with a key nuance: the majority of these homes will not be built before five years.

The complexity of accelerating urban planning procedures, despite the approved administrative simplification, as well as the concern of some developers about the lack of water in Palma, mean that the statement by a high-ranking popular official – "there must be cranes before the elections" – is ruled out. According to what ARA Balears has learned, some developers want to ensure that, when they present their projects, water availability is guaranteed. However, according to the reports of the General Plan of Palma, this is not met in all cases.

The rulers are under the enormous pressure of a citizenry that sees how access to housing is becoming increasingly complicated, and for this reason they want massive actions, with large-scale developments, which, moreover, will be able to benefit from a buildability 45% higher than initially planned in the General Plan. Despite criticism for the saturation this will cause and for the lack of guarantee of water availability in all cases, Cort and the Government have pushed hard to accelerate the large developments, which have names and surnames: Son Ximelis, Cas Pastors, Son Güells, Son Puigdorfila and Son Cladera Nord.

The developers admit that “the processing has been greatly reduced, which in a developable area could be up to 15 years”. “Now we are talking about five. These times cannot be reduced further, because they are large transformations and cannot be done overnight,” explains the president of the developers, Óscar Carreras.

The strategic residential project actions total “around 4,000 new homes, although this is an estimate, because the projects still have to be submitted by the developers, and this figure may vary”, indicate sources from the Urban Planning department of the Palma City Council. To this figure, 500 homes in Son Bordoy must be added.

In this way, it is planned to make 4,500 apartments available to citizens. In the case of strategic residential projects, 50% must be allocated to protected or price-limited housing. A figure that will allow more than 2,000 apartments to be put on the market at an accessible price. “These are very significant figures and they demonstrate important legislative work, but we come from a particularly cumbersome situation in the regulatory sphere, and a lack of action in housing matters. Therefore, the great results are still far off,” admits the Director General of Housing of the Government, José Francisco Reynés.

“In previous legislatures, the reality of the housing crisis had not been acknowledged and no action was taken. The results are not automatic, but will gradually arrive. But we can already see that the fruits are from the measures that have allowed us to make better use of existing buildings”, continues the general director. Reynés refers to the Law on urgent measures regarding housing (2024), which totals more than 2,000 new homes – or in progress. These actions include the conversion of commercial premises into housing, with 372 homes; the increase in building height, which has generated 140 new households; the division of existing homes, with 115 more homes, and the utilization of old basements, which adds 139 units.

Despite these advances, the bulk of future supply continues to depend on large-scale projects that are still in their early stages and involve complex urban transformations. Furthermore, some developers have stated that the obligation to dedicate at least 50% to protected housing or housing at limited prices makes business margins very narrow. With the foreseeable escalation of prices due to the war, this situation could become more complicated. “We are studying how we can intervene, at least in the case of public housing that will be put out to tender”, points out Reynés. “It is important to ensure that the tenders are not left empty because the demand for protected housing is enormous”, he adds.

Opposition criticism

The regulations of the Government and the actions of the Palma City Council in intensifying land use to generate housing and alleviate the housing crisis have not pleased the opposition. The councilor of MÉS per Palma, Neus Truyol, accuses the PP of "using the housing crisis to justify urban planning liberalization that favors large real estate interests." According to her denunciation, the measures promoted by the Executive and Cort

Along the same lines, the socialist spokesperson in Parliament, Iago Negueruela, criticized that this process of greater use of developable land implies

In any case, the administrative machinery continues and the owners of the land that will benefit from this greater development are making their move. In recent weeks, the statutes and operating bases of the compensation boards of Son Güells and Son Puigdorfila, two key areas for the projected residential growth in Palma, have been approved. This situation confirms that the moment the land will become flats is still a long way off. “Now an administrative process begins, then comes the urbanization and, finally, the construction, although it is true that processes can now be more simultaneous. But it is impossible for anything to materialize before five years,” confirms a Palma Urban Planning technician who requests anonymity.

In the opinion of the president of the developers, even though it may seem that the flats from the major operations are still a long way off, the change has been noticeable: “The urbanization works in these areas will begin in 12 to a maximum of 18 months. But it must be taken into account that before it took three or four years,” he explains.