The Government opens up to limiting the purchase of homes to non-residents if Brussels endorses it

PalmaThe Government will "evaluate" the affordable housing bill that the European Commission put forward this week. The first vice president, Antoni Costa, has assured that they will even consider limiting the purchase of second homes by non-residents if Brussels endorses it. "Prohibiting purchases by non-residents is not a feasible measure today, and that is why the European Commission is opening the door to legislation that gives this option to public administrations," he explained: "We are willing to analyze it if the door is opened".

Last February, the PP and Vox majority struck down a legislative proposal by MÉS per Mallorca to prohibit the purchase of housing by non-residents and companies. Despite losing the vote in the regional Chamber, the eco-sovereignists have also raised the proposal to the Congress of Deputies. After the European pronouncement, the first vice president defended that the Government will apply the measure if it considers that it works regardless of its "ideological basis".

The housing law that will subsequently be processed in the European Parliament proposes measures so that territories and States can limit the rental of tourist apartments and the purchase of second homes to deal with price increases and the lack of supply. The Eurobarometer of June 2025 found that 40% of Europeans consider affordable housing to be an immediate and urgent problem, and this percentage rises to 51% in cities. In the last ten years, the purchase price has risen on average by more than 60% and the rental price by 20% in the European Union as a whole. While a million Europeans are homeless, 20% of the housing stock in community territory is empty.

It is the first time that Brussels is endorsing the possibility of restricting the purchase or rental of apartments on a European scale to favor their use as primary residences. Although there are territories that already allow similar restrictions, until now they had been treated as exceptions in community law, which establishes non-discrimination by nationality within the European Union (EU). The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) admitted expanding these exceptions, but only under certain circumstances. This is stated by the Commission in a statement, in which it assures that the Affordable Housing Law "does not introduce any EU restriction on the purchase or use of second homes" nor "short-term rentals", nor does it "grant national, regional or local authorities new powers to do so". However, if the Brussels proposal were to be approved, the law would establish "a common European framework that authorities must respect if they decide, by virtue of the powers they have under national legislation, to adopt measures that affect the acquisition or use of housing for residential purposes".

Costa also highlighted that other measures included in the European proposal are in line with policies adopted by the Balearic Government, such as the limitation of holiday rentals and the streamlining of procedures for building public housing. He also justified, once again, the PP's refusal to apply a cap on rental prices by applying the state housing law. "We believe it is counterproductive and affects the most vulnerable families," he justified. "We will apply any measure that allows us an improvement, which we believe can be effective," he assured.

Appeals the transfer of migrant minors

On the other hand, the first vice president has announced a new appeal against two resolutions from the Canary Islands and Melilla that establish the transfer of several unaccompanied migrant minors to the Balearic Islands. The Community's Advocacy has argued that neither of the two resolutions responds to the best interests of the minors nor are they duly motivated, because their repatriation through family reunification had not been considered beforehand. It considers that the transfer of minors cannot be done "in a generic or automatic way, but must respond to the personal circumstances of each one".

In this sense, Costa has criticized the Spanish government for its management of the migration crisis in Ceuta. "It was warned 72h in advance, and 80,000 people entered Ceuta without it doing absolutely anything," he said: "Pedro Sánchez's government is incapable of controlling the borders." Asked about the fact that the Balearic Islands appear only testimonially in the declassified documents about Ceuta after the Executive insinuated that Sánchez was hiding a police report on a supposed high risk of arrivals to the archipelago, Costa has doubted the word of the Minister of the Interior. "It is the word of Mr. Fernando Grande-Marlaska," he explained: "We cannot trust a minister who is not capable of doing absolutely anything to control migration flows to the Islands." Thus, he considered "justified" the "fear" of the Balearic Government after Sánchez implied during his appearance in Congress that he had received information that affected the Peninsula and the Balearics. "We do not know where this report is, we are in the hands of an incompetent government," he asserted.