Housing is one of the main concerns of Spaniards, due to the difficulty of access, high purchase and rental prices, and the lack of affordable supply. As a fact, recently the European Central Bank (ECB) has stated that real estate prices in Spain are 70% more inflated than the European average.
In this context, Julen Bollain, economist, professor and researcher at the University of Mondragón, specialized in studies on development and basic income, wanted to share a shocking fact on his social networks: only 14% of the mortgages given by banks are used to access a first home.
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This data comes from the VI Asufin Mortgage Barometer, published last March, in which it was also revealed that clients who take out mortgages to invest went from 51% to 56%. Bollain also highlighted this: “56% of them, on the other hand, are used to speculate on housing.” For this reason, through his ‘X’ account (formerly Twitter), he has stated that “the purchase of housing to speculate must be prohibited”, stating that “there is no other option.”
The economist also added that “56.2% are already purchased in cash (70.2% in the Valencian Country)”, denouncing that “mortgages for speculation also imply over-indebtedness based on unrealistic expectations of a bubble (spoiler: it goes wrong). It is incomprehensible that banks grant them.” Although not all economists totally agree with his speech. Among them, the famous Gonzalo Bernardos.
Gonzalo Bernardos answers: “you know that what you say is not true”
In the same ‘X’ thread, Gonzalo Bernardos wanted to respond to Julen Bollain: “Julen, don’t lie. You know that what you say is not true. The journalist has made a mistake and has not distinguished investment housing from improvement housing. The second is a demand for use reasons, just as it is for first access to the property.”
It is not the first time that Bernardos denies this information, and he already did so in March when the aforementioned study was published in which it was collected. During a ‘laSexta
Now, he added that “since the rental market has been impossible, mainly since April 2024, young people (under 40 years old) are buying housing en masse. And they are people who acquire a first residence. For this reason, the percentage of people who take out a mortgage increases.” For this reason, he stated that the aforementioned study did not give “one”: “I don’t know where they got it from. It’s a midsummer night’s dream,” he said.
The economist, then, also assured that the percentage of people who had acquired their first home was much higher: “The vast majority of real estate wealth is in the hands of the owners, but that wealth is the apartment where they live, not those who invest. These investors are very minority compared to the owners of a first home. I hope they make them look at it because it has nothing to do with the reality of the market,” he flatly denounced, standing by his words as could be seen in the response to Julen Bollain.