Zaragoza
The implementation of new companies must be accompanied by a housing policy that responds to the creation of thousands of jobs and takes advantage of economic investments. It is one of the Achilles heels that the real estate sector in Aragon puts on the table, which also highlights the need for the central government to activate ICO credits for the purchase of a flat. This 2024 seems more benign, with the upward trend in interest rates exhausted.
Everything indicates that the second half of 2024 will be more favorable for the signing of new mortgages, with financial conditions, in principle, more favorable.
In the last year, home sales in Aragon have decreased, according to the latest data published by the Notarial Statistical Information Center. As of November, 15,450 homes had been sold; It is around 12 percent less than a year ago and the average price has also fallen in the last 12 months and stands at 1,058 euros per square meter.
Shortcomings
There is a need for housing, both in rural and urban areas, and both for rent and purchase, and at affordable prices, due to the increase in population and the arrival of new companies. An example is in Calamocha (Teruel), where “companies, such as the slaughterhouse, are going to set up shop, and there are many jobs,” recalls the director of the real estate market chair at the University of Zaragoza, Luis Fabra. “Either we have housing available in those areas or we are really not going to be able to carry out these business implementations and that represents a significant loss of opportunity.”
And he gave another example: “one of the problems for the installation of the State Space Agency in terms of the housing capacity available for people who would have had to work in that agency,” explains Fabra.
For this reason, housing “should be considered as a strategic factor to have housing availability in line with these labor needs and, consequently, for urban planning to also be sufficiently agile in the production of new housing,” he continues.
Public aid and VPO
Housing is a constitutional right and, at the same time, a luxury item for the youngest, because you must have at least 30% saved of the set price to be able to access that mortgage. For this reason, Fabra emphasizes, governments need to roll up their sleeves.
In Aragon, “we have, at the moment, relatively low prices, but it would be of great help if there were guarantees, guarantees to have a greater percentage of young people who can access the purchase of a home,” says Fabra.
A thesis supported by the president of the Confederation of Construction Employers of Aragon who, in addition, detect that VPOs are being reactivated. “They are starting to move,” says Juan Carlos Bandrés. For example, “in Arcosur 2 years ago there were barely one or two operations and at this moment there are six or seven and another four or five are in the commercialization phase.”
At this time, 201 homes are pending provisional qualification, due to a delay in the Government of Aragon. It is what allows marketing and the construction of promotions to begin. Pending the final qualification, which companies still have to submit, there are 923. The Executive wants to expedite this first procedure to avoid duplications with the local administration, which delays time, with the modification of regulations, and a reinforcement of personnel to provide greater speed to the processing of these files. During 2024, the first housing law in Aragon will be processed, which will foreseeably come into force in 2025.
New home
20 percent of sales in Aragón are new homes. There were about 3,600 in 2022, the last year closed, when 18,768 apartments and houses were sold. Their commercial margins, according to the Confederation of Construction Business Owners, are very tight, especially due to the increase in the price of materials.
Unlike 2008, when the real estate bubble burst, now banks do not finance any project that does not have a high pre-sale level, of at least 50%. “The level of works that once seemed to surround us all, at this time is very testimonial,” he points out.
“They are either small expansions that are being urbanized or locations within the city that are scars that have been left and that solutions are being given at this moment.” The activity “is tight” because “everything is tight at this moment.”
Lack of rental offer
In real estate offices they also detect that the rental market needs more supply. “It depends a lot on the location and a renovated home is not the same as a modern or old one.”
In Zaragoza, “flats for 500 or 600 euros are rented very quickly and easily, even up to 700 euros per month, but from there it costs more and you have to have a comfortable payroll,” explains Fernando Baena, president of the College. Official of Real Estate Agents of Aragon. The average is about 80 or 90 square meters.
The real estate sector is also undergoing a complete transformation, with its industrialization and the application of new technologies, which are changing the way we build.
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Hour 14 Aragon Weekend (01/14/2024)
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2024-01-14 14:46:57
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