Protected housing, aimed at offering an affordable alternative within the real estate market, also uploads its sales prices. The appraised value stood at 1,188 euros per average square meter in the second quarter. It is the highest figure registered since the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (formerly Fomento) began publishing in 2005 the statistical series (the data is the weighted average of the appraised values of the protected homes, but does not reflect the maximum legal sale price that, for example, in Andalusia it is 2,683 euros per useful square meter and in the Community of Madrid reaches 2,898 euros). The national increase, according to official statistics, was 1.6%, compared to the same period of the previous year, but to take into account. «In general, the modules have adapted to cover costs, but there are communities to which their hand has gone. For example, Balearic Islands and Valencian Community have risen so that they do not guarantee that their VPO is affordable, because they exceed the recommended effort rate for families (30%),» they say in the Ministry. These sources add: «With the state housing entity we will not allow this to happen.» The autonomous communities, who have begun to fight the battle of the house too late, now try to find solutions to the lack of offer up to the stones. One is to update the maximum sales prices (the modules) of the protected houses and thus encourage the promoter. That of Castilla y León was one of the first governments that took the step, in 2022. The objective is that its construction “be minimally profitable because construction costs have risen a lot,” says Juan José Perucho, president of the Association of Housing Manager and Vice President of Grupo Ibosa. Perucho considers that low profitability explains that many develop in a cooperative regime. The employer of promoters and builders of Spain explains that the price of the module was frozen, in some cases, since 2008, from which this typology was stopped. The updates «seek to align the maximum prices of the VPO with the real construction costs, the increase in land and the new energy efficiency demands, which impact the price of housing.» Catalonia puts as an example, where prices are automatically updated with the CPI for years, making this type of promotions viable. And thus it reaches 2024: the final rating (obtain the final approval) of protected housing in Spain increased 62% compared to the previous year, reaching 14,371 units, the highest number since 2014, indicating a recovery. However, in the first three months of 2025 3.52%have fallen to 2,497 units. However, they are complicated times. Jaime Palomera, Director of Research and Strategy on Housing at the Urban Research Institute of Barcelona (IDRA), is sharp: «The price of a standard protected has been increasing to the point that, although it is below the market price, it is already significantly above the one they used to have.» In his opinion, the Temporary VPO model, which does not guarantee life protection, is failed. More more expensive could reduce the advantage of the protected over free and that lower income groups are excluded. «If the maximum prices are raised, with the enormous pressure exerted by the demand, the land prices would rise,» economist Ignacio Ezquiaga estimates that a million protected homes are needed. «You have to do all those who can.» But he talks about the need to find a balance. «Uploading the module can expand the social spectrum, but it can be the excuse for a posture that creates an offer not sufficiently affordable for that million frustrated homes.» Because, he adds, so that these floors reconcile home as an economic asset and as a right “municipal public land policies have to wear, throughout Spain and under all political color, at their service”. With the data of the ministry in the hand, it is observed that in seven provinces the price of the protected is already higher than that of free: Córdoba, Jaén, Teruel, León, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Lleida. However, José María López, president of the Spanish Association of Public Housing and Land Managers (AVS), remains importance: «It is not representative, it is a phenomenon that can occur.» Apcesspaña explains that this circumstance responds to local dynamics and not a generalized trend. «It is indicative of a very weak demand.» One of the last communities to raise prices has been Aragon (in April, 9.5%). Madrid and Murcia have done the same this year. The Madrid region is headed, both under construction and prices. He updated them for the first time in 16 years in 2024. And he did it again in January 2025 (every year with respect to the CPI).
Madrid, at the head
The community is the one that builds the most floors with regulated prices in Spain, multiplying the offer by seven. This has been possible «thanks to the update of the sales prices and rental of real estate,» they say in the Ministry of Transportation, Infrastructure and Housing. In 2024, qualification requests were granted for 12,648 houses, while in 2023 that data stood at 19954. However, in the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (FRAVM) they were and continues to be contrary to these increases. «We denounce that it was excessive and that they would make access to housing with protection of low -income families, forcing them to assume effort rates far from 30%. Two years later it seems that we are fully hit in our prediction.» People with relatively high salaries end up competing for subsidized homes or with limited prices. In the Community of Madrid, for basic price housing (VPB) are up to 5.5 times the IPREM. That is about 46,200 euros a year per family unit. Limited price housing (VPL) is up to 7.5 times the IPREM. That is about 63,000 euros a year. With respect to the protected rent, several data. Since January 2024, 4,696 floors have been qualified. «At this time there are 25,779 underway with subsidies to public and private promoters of the Next Generation funds worth 983 million euros,» says José María López. Some have already begun to be delivered and cost the useful square meter per month from 4 to 10 euros. With garage and storage room are 750 euros. To this we must add the plans of some communities in collaboration with the private sector. Madrid, for example, has the live plan, very criticized, among other things for prices. The regional government responds: «They are always lower (up to 30% less) with respect to market prices. Nearly 5,000 houses have already been delivered in nine municipalities.» Jaime Palomera is immersed in the analysis of the protected market for rent. The problem, he says, is «the pressure exerted by the funds and shareholders that are behind some promoters and that expect certain returns that enter into collision with the need for the price to be really affordable.» Therefore, it continues, to those 700 or 800 euros of protected rent, extra costs are added: the IBI is impact on the tenant or community expenses. «There are more and more people who are easily paying up to 1,000 euros.» It proposes to change the model and give prominence to the «actors who make limited profit housing that are demonstrating that you can make the final price paid the user is lower.»