Access to housing continues to be one of the biggest challenges that Spanish society is experiencing in 2026. With the price of real estate setting record after record, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to buy a house or even rent it. And one of the great triggers of this problem is the lack of construction in Spain, despite the fact that the Government has promoted a State Housing Plan in which they intend to increase the public housing stock in Spain.
The problem of not building in Spain is not new, in fact some owners like Rubén Zaballos were already complaining about this at the beginning of last year, when he indicated in an interview with Espejo Público that the lack of construction was one of the biggest problems that affected access to housing in Spain. This multi-owner, owner of 200 apartments in Spain, has even warned that he will sell all his properties if housing policy continues the path it is currently taking.
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For Rubén, homelessness affects almost everything. “The problem is that we are in a situation in which there is a shortage of housing, that affects everything: when we go on vacation it costs much more and when we want to find an apartment to live it also costs us more. So the only solution is to build more homes,” he declared.
Free market to solve the housing crisis
Rubén Zaballos maintains that regulating tourist rentals or limiting the price of housing will not be of much use if the construction of new homes is not promoted. In this sense, he defended that the market should function with less intervention: “I think the ideal is the free market. Our markets are regulated naturally. And if more homes are not built it is because it really is an economic activity that involves a lot of risk and little benefit. In 2008 we built 500,000 homes a year because it was very profitable, but now only 100,000 are built.”
“The problem is the housing shortage”
In the face of criticism related to real estate speculation, the businessman assured that his homes are rented at affordable prices and claimed a model based on reasonable prices for both building and renting. “I don’t have any apartment rented for more than 1,000 euros a month. What we need is people who do a logical job: build homes at a reasonable price and rent them at a reasonable price. And if they do things well, you can prosper and grow, which is normal. The problem is the housing shortage.”
Furthermore, Rubén wanted to focus on the lack of housing supply in Spain, ensuring that population growth is well above the current construction rate. As he explained, he himself has participated in the entire real estate development process: “I have bought land, I have hired architects, I have developed the projects and built them. 100,000 homes a year are not enough because in the last five years more than 500,000 people have arrived in Spain a year. What is needed is to guarantee legal security so that more investors want to build.”