Last March, the Ministry of the Water Cycle and the Sea signed the authorization to carry out the demolition of Pedro J. Ramírez's pool in Costa de los Pinos, after a long legal battle since 2004. The case was well known by its owner (now Agatha Ruiz de la Prada), but in the Balearic Islands there are dozens of other pools in public maritime-terrestrial domain. And not only that: hotels, restaurants, and –of course– villas have also been built, some directly on the beach. All these uses are prohibited because the public domain is a strip that occupies the first meters of the coast and extends as far as a beach, dune system, or wetland reaches. Some of these constructions obtained temporary concessions in the past, but most have already expired. In total, it is estimated that there are more than 2,000 irregular constructions, many of which with demolition orders. The lack of resources from the State Coastal Demarcation has allowed cement to illegally occupy the front line for decades. One of the most striking cases is that of Bungalow, in Palma, a restaurant that has never even had a concession and continues to operate despite demolition orders.

The Palma City Council has definitively approved the statutes and bases of the compensation board for the Son Ximelis Strategic Residential Project, a situation that opens the way to the urbanization of 143,649 square meters, where 1,080 homes can be built, according to municipal data. Of the total, 530 homes will have some type of public protection. The project had initial approval, but final approval was necessary to step on the accelerator.

Building permits issued in the Balearic Islands increased by 27.9% in 2025 compared to 2024, a growth driven, in part, by the extraordinary legalizations of buildings on rural land approved by the Balearic Government, as the Official College of Architects of the Balearic Islands pointed out this Tuesday. In this regard, during the presentation of the Housing Observatory held this Tuesday at a press conference, experts indicated that without the effect of the extraordinary legalizations, the increase would have been 5.7%, meaning there would have been 22.2% fewer projects. They explained that this increase is linked to the extraordinary regularization processes for buildings on rural land provided for in Decree Law 3/2024 and Law 7/2024, concerning housing and administrative simplification, respectively.

Home sales in the Balearic Islands grew by 5% year-on-year in 2015, reaching 14,529 units, according to data published this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This marks a return to positive growth rates, with a total of 1,104 transactions recorded in December. These sales represent the fourth-highest figure for the month in the region's recorded history. Of the total, 11,522 were market-rate homes; 3,303 were market-rate homes; and 230 were subsidized housing. Compared to the previous month, home sales in the Islands fell by 2.2%.

The Esporles Town Council has announced that it will be the first municipality to offer a new residential model, with eight supervised living places for seniors. This model is designed for people with a higher level of autonomy than required by the traditional residential model, which is intended for more advanced dependency, the Council explained in a statement. The new facility aims to offer an alternative adapted to current needs, promoting personal autonomy and quality of life. According to Mayor Josep Ferrà, with the opening of these eight supervised living places, Esporles will have, for the first time and after many years of effort, its first residential service in the municipality, within the framework of the 2026-2030 Social and Healthcare Infrastructure Plan. "These first eight places are just the beginning; in the coming years we will continue working to expand the offering and meet the needs of our seniors," said Ferrà. In the coming months, the City Council and the Regional Ministry of Families, Social Welfare, and Dependency Care will work together to define the terms of the future agreement, finalize the proposal for the residential space, and formalize the agreement that will allow the service to begin. The Councilor for Social Services, Maria Roig, stated that "the aim is for it to happen as soon as possible, and, if it depends on the City Council, for it to be a reality this year, 2026, since the facilities are already built."

Vicenç Vidal, the MÉS deputy for Mallorca and Més for Menorca, affiliated with the Sumar plurinational group, has submitted a bill to Congress to limit home purchases by individuals. He explained this on Friday at a press conference at the MÉS headquarters in Palma, where he warned that 24,000 rental contracts will expire this year, affecting approximately 69,000 people in the Balearic Islands. "In January, a historic record was broken: the price per square meter is over €5,000 in the Balearic Islands," Vidal emphasized, accusing the Balearic Islands' president, Marga Prohens, and the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, of "failing to address this scandal." The initiative proposed by the deputy modifies Article 10 of the Housing Law to limit purchases to individuals and prohibit vulture funds from operating in the market.

"What cannot be, cannot be, and furthermore, it is impossible."That's the happy expression with which the bullfighter Rafael Guerra went down in history Little War, although the pleonastic expression is also attributed to Rafael Gómez Ortega The RoosterGo find him... In any case, it's about –excuse the oxymoron– bullfighting wisdom.

Only about twenty of the 139 apartments in Menorca advertised on the Idealista portal are for residential rental. The lowest price is 960 euros per month. This amount is beyond the reach of most people, leading many separated individuals to move back in with their parents and younger people to delay leaving home. Access to housing has become virtually impossible for the resident population, with the government at all levels unable to provide a solution. With the People's Party (PP) having ruled out declaring the real estate market under pressure and intervening in prices, the most visible public efforts are focused on advancing Ibavi (Balearic Housing Institute) projects to guarantee decent housing for the poorest sectors of society. Currently, more than one hundred apartments are under construction, distributed across developments in five municipalities on the island. The Menorca Island Council has also allocated 1.5 million euros in the 2026 budget to acquire land to promote new social housing projects. The PSOE, from the opposition, had requested an allocation of 10 million euros. Amidst all this, island society is mobilizing with different initiatives to demand solutions and propose them independently of institutions and the political class. Every morning, a few activists from the Platform for Dignified Housing demonstrate at the doors of the Island Council headquarters in Mahón to demand that the State expand social safety net measures regarding housing to address the housing emergency. Otherwise, they say, rising prices, unaffordable rents, and the almost nonexistent supply make the situation untenable.

The price of a 90 square meter home is, on average, 250,000 euros more expensive in Palma than in Inca, according to the platform. pisos.comA study published this Wednesday by the Spanish Association of Housing and Landowners (AEB) analyzes price differences between provincial capitals and other municipalities. A 90-square-meter home has an average price of €477,463 in Palma, while similar homes in Inca average €223,517, practically half the price in Palma. At the national level, the most striking cases are concentrated in metropolitan areas. In the Community of Madrid, a 90-square-meter home costs €567,211 in the capital, a figure that contrasts sharply with €225,157 in Alcalá de Henares and €251,901 in Getafe. In Catalonia, a similar apartment in Barcelona averages €464,002, while in Badalona the price is €229,077 and in Hospitalet de Llobregat, €246,545.

The Balearic Islands are facing an unprecedented housing crisis. According to the 9th Foessa Report on Exclusion and Social Development, presented this Wednesday by Cáritas, 46,000 households in the archipelago fall into severe poverty simply after assuming the cost of rent and utilities. Representatives of the organization warn that the right to housing has become a "false right" and that real estate pressure is forcing many families out of the possibility of living with dignity. "Housing expels people from their land and from a dignified life," stated Foessa sociologist Thomás Ubrich at the report's presentation in Palma. "It's not the people who are failing, but the system," he added, highlighting that many households try to escape exclusion but encounter structural barriers and fragmented support systems that prevent their recovery. Between 2018 and 2024, housing prices continued to skyrocket. In Palma, rents have increased by 38%, and across the Balearic Islands as a whole, by 27%, with the average price now reaching €1,598 per month, a 31% increase compared to 2019. Today, 32% of the population lives in rented accommodation, ten points above the national average, and the Balearic Islands continue to be among the regions with the highest rates. This situation is putting enormous pressure on households, especially in areas like Ibiza, where market tension is greatest. Between 2018 and 2024, the purchase price has risen by €40,000.

The average mortgage amount in Spain for home purchases has risen in a decade, from just over €100,000 to nearly €170,000 between August 2015 and the same month this year, an increase of almost 63%. In the Balearic Islands, the increase has reached 70%. The archipelago is the fourth region with the largest increase, behind Madrid (95%), Andalusia (77%), and the Valencian Community (74%). According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in August 2015 the average mortgage amount for home purchases was €104,318, compared to €169,650 in August of this year, the most recent month for which data is available. This average increase of 63% falls slightly short of the overall rise in housing prices this decade, a period in which the price per square meter has increased from €1,524 to €2,679, representing a difference of nearly 76%.

Citizens of the Balearic Islands need 60.8 years to buy a home, spending 30% of their salary, double the national average, according to Antoni Alcover, Secretary General of the Economic and Social Council (CES), during the presentation of the 2024 report. Last year, 26% of the average home purchase was made by foreigners. Rent prices in the Balearic Islands are the highest in Spain, with an increase of 3.9% compared to the previous year and 23.9% compared to 2015. Currently, 30% of the population lives in rented accommodation, the highest figure of all the autonomous communities.

Between July and September, the Idealista website advertised 474 occupied homes for sale in the Balearic Islands, a figure that represents 2% of the properties offered. In Palma, there were 184 (2.5%).

Finding a home in the Balearic Islands has become a fierce race for those looking for affordable properties, whether buying or renting. Having to be the first to visit, missing out on a chance because someone else has offered a higher price, and having to make a decision immediately to avoid seeing a house they can afford slip away are some of the situations faced by those on the hunt for a place to stay. So, it's no longer just about finding a home; you also have to deal with the anxiety of knowing that if you come in second, you probably won't get it.

Real estate agencies are dream factories: like Hollywood, but smaller. Or we can consider them, depending on how you look at it, a first step toward living the way Hollywood stars are supposed to. It's curious that, in the age of social media and algorithms, real estate agency windows still display photos of the type they sell: houses, apartments, and building plots (an adjective that has lost much of its meaning because now almost all of them are buildable). But these windows must be effective, because they achieve what they want, which is to attract attention. This is at least the effect they give when we see people stop in front of these windows and open their eyes for a while, sometimes for a long time, in front of the advertisements, which are generally A4 sheets hung on the glass with a suction cup. The sheets in question usually have a printed photo, as well as the main details of the property for sale: location, square footage, room layout (if there is more than one, per room), amenities (if there are any in the house or in the area), and, of course, what everyone wants to see, what everyone wants to know and understand: the price. And this is where a truly important change has occurred.

The price of unlisted housing has soared by 11.7% in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2024, one point less than the figure recorded at the national level, according to the Housing Price Index (HPI) of the National Statistics Institute (INE) published this Friday.

Àngela Pons has been a volunteer for various causes since the 1970s, "when social services didn't yet exist." At that time, she was helping out at Can Gazà. She experienced the ravages of heroin, "a real scourge," and 14 years ago joined the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages in Mallorca (PAH), a free association that helps people struggling to pay their mortgages, rent, or facing eviction. Like many others, she selflessly dedicates her free time to defending the right to housing. "We're cooks, and I don't have any education. I had to work hard," she says, referring to skills she learned on the job, forced by the crisis generated by the real estate bubble and the rise in the Euribor, which left thousands of families homeless. "It seemed very unfair to me that, after years of paying the bank, they wouldn't give people a chance when the wealthiest people were getting their loans refinanced," she recalls of her early days. The worsening of the problem, which has become transversal and now extends to rentals, has led the association to expand its services. "Housing has become a inflated stock market product with which companies [investment funds and vultures] make a lot of money. Governments allow them to use housing for speculation instead of stopping the monsters and creating housing. In two years, they evicted 250,000 families," he criticizes.

Buying a home in the Balearic Islands has become a nearly impossible mission for those under 35, who need an average of 29.5 years of saving to gather the money needed to access a mortgage, according to a study by the mortgage comparison site yAhorro.

Palma City Council's Urban Planning Department authorized this Tuesday the construction of two buildings, one in the area of the Balear Stadium and another in Son Canals, which will house 36 limited-price apartments. Palma City Council explained that the construction will be carried out under the urgent housing measures law approved by the regional government last year.