Architects call on Prohens to change public housing policy due to its "poor results."

PalmThe Official College of Architects of the Balearic Islands (COAIB) has approved 6,737 construction projects during the first six months of 2025, representing a 27% increase compared to the same period last year. Those responsible for this organization are clear that Marga Prohens's rural development amnesty—first in the form of a decree law and now as a law—is the main cause of this increase, with more than 1,000 projects submitted under the regulation.

Those responsible for the COAIB have not hidden the architects' concern that many of these legalizations do not always comply with established urban and environmental standards. But, above all, what the spokespersons for one of the professional groups with the greatest knowledge of territorial and urban planning said this Wednesday is that sacrificing rural land is never a good idea. Furthermore, for the moment, no firm steps are being taken in the area of subsidized housing.

The data confirms, in any case, that the trend was already upward "if we exclude legalizations," noted the president of the Mallorca region, Joan Cerdà, and the dean of the COAIB, Bernat Nadal. "The approval of construction projects continues to register growth figures of 4.69% in the first half of 2025. Compared to the first half of 2024, this places us on a trend of increasing numbers of approved projects," they added.

Rural land must be protected.

Nadal and Cerdà questioned the government's strategy for creating new affordable housing, which includes the possibility of building on rural land almost automatically. According to the dean of the COAIB, it is very delicate to consume rural land, as it could end up undermining the islands' unique value. "People don't come for the hotels, but for what Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca, and Formentera are. If we don't take care of them, we will lose their appeal and, before we know it, we will be a cardboard cutout where it will be difficult to live," he asserted.

For his part, Joan Cerdà considered that it would be "much more coherent" to first use up land that is suitable for urban development—both urban and developable—before focusing on rural development, due to the negative effects this can have and the importance of preserving the land and the landscape.

Single-family homes are up 46%.

Regarding the detailed figures, single-family homes are soaring again, with a year-over-year increase of 46%. In six months, 1,981 projects have been approved, although it should be noted that this figure includes homes that are not newly built, but rather those resulting from the amnesty. "If we exclude the extraordinary legalization of single-family homes, growth drops to 1.59% in the first half of the year. The data highlight the positive impact of legalizations on single-family homes, but also reflect an increase in construction activity in this first half of the year, as we were experiencing growth in the 2024 semester," the architects explain in their report.

Failure in public housing

Another element highlighted by the COAIB in its half-yearly report is that, although the lack of public housing has been on the agenda for years, the data remains meager. Approvals have been granted for 41 protected housing units—a 33% decrease—and 186 limited-price units, a figure corresponding to the last 12 months and which architects consider absolutely insufficient if the problem of access to housing is to be addressed.

"It is worth highlighting the increasingly scarce development of publicly subsidized housing, which is what most of the Balearic population can afford, as well as the poor results of limited-price housing, which could require a rethinking of the restrictive conditions," they concluded. In fact, according to COAIB spokespersons, "the development of free housing, in a market with demand far exceeding supply, will not be able to solve the housing shortage for the population that suffers the most."