THE Spanish government’s new flagship national affordable housing portal has come under fire for offering zero homes across Andalucia or Madrid.
The Casa 47 website was unveiled this week as a cornerstone of the central government’s pledge to guarantee housing rights, promising lifetime contracts of up to 75 years on homes protected forever.
However, it lists just 816 properties nationwide to combat an estimated national deficit of 750,000 homes.
Indeed, of the 10 most populated cities across Spain, there are precisely zero properties listed.
Critics have also seized on the exclusionary rules for the handful of rental properties available, which demand minimum monthly earnings that lock out low-income workers.
The cheapest flat listed is priced at €350 a month in Cedeira, a coastal town in Galicia, but it requires a net monthly income of €1,400 to even apply.
This sits just €24 below Spain’s national statutory minimum wage, known as the SMI, which is currently set at €1,424.
This income floor effectively bars part-time workers, seasonal staff and pensioners from applying for the cheapest state option available.
The most expensive property demands an income of €3,550 a month, which is nearly three times the minimum wage.
To make matters worse for the few who qualify, the flats will not be allocated based on social vulnerability or local ties.
Instead, they will be given away in a blind lottery, prompting critics to accuse Madrid of turning the Spanish Constitution’s Article 47 right to decent housing into a lottery coupon.
The platform’s geographical distribution has also sparked fury, heavily snubbing the regions hit hardest by the ongoing rent and property crisis.
While expat and coastal hotspots like Malaga, the wider Costa del Sol and Madrid have no listings at all, Pedreguer, a town in Alicante with a population of just 7,900, has been allocated 66 homes.
The disconnect between Madrid’s grand announcements and the reality on the ground has triggered a fierce political backlash.
Jose Ramon Carmona, secretary general of the conservative Popular Party in Malaga, accused the government of maintaining a ‘zero housing strategy’ on the coast.
“Neither a single flat, nor a single euro invested, nor a solution for the people of Malaga,” he said.
He explicitly branded the prime minister’s housing policy as ‘the greatest scam of socialism’, claiming Malaga has received nothing from the central government across Sanchez’s entire eight-year premiership.
Carmona accused Madrid of bypassing Malaga out of mere political tacticism, despite the province being a booming economic powerhouse that drives regional growth.
He pointed out that Andalucia is still waiting for over 6,000 homes promised by the central government.
He added that Malaga province alone currently has more than 150,000 empty properties, contributing to a national total of 3.8 million vacant homes across Spain.
Carmona argued the crisis is being worsened by the national housing law, or Ley de Vivienda, claiming it has reduced rental supply and driven up prices by creating legal uncertainty around illegal squatting.
He cited Interior Ministry data showing Malaga now registers around 450 illegal squatting cases a year.
“The people of Malaga are already cured of fright with Sanchez, and even more so in terms of housing,” Carmona said.
“They no longer believe his announcements because they know they are lies.”
The prime minister, meanwhile, used the launch announcement to take a direct political swipe at Madrid regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
Sanchez declared that housing policy is about ensuring decent homes ‘and not buying a luxury penthouse for the president of a regional government’.
In 2023, the central government pledged 183,000 public homes, but according to the data cited in the backlash, only 10,200 have been delivered so far.
READ MORE: Spain’s housing shortage its 750,000 homes as policies fail to boost supply
The Constitutional Court endorsed the temporary expropriation of empty homes held by banks and investment funds in 2025, but critics note the government has not exercised this power, nor banned bulk acquisitions by vulture funds.
The glaring omission of coastal areas from the portal is due to the nature of Casa 47 itself, which is currently serving as a stopgap shop window rather than a unified register of new social builds.
The properties listed are assets absorbed by Sareb, Spain’s ‘bad bank’ established to take on toxic real estate following the 2008 financial crash.
The portal’s own frequently asked questions section admits they are working on a wider integrated platform promised for later in 2026.
Meanwhile, hundreds of new subsidised housing units, known as VPOs, are actively being built across the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca.
These include developments driven by private promoters like Vimpyca and Lagoom Living in Malaga’s new Distrito Zeta and Universidad sectors, and the Residencial La Ordana project in Alicante.
The Malaga Municipal Housing Institute recently opened a lottery for 200 affordable rental VPOs, while luxury developer Sierra Blanca Estates has committed to building 25 in Marbella.
The PP claims the regional Andalucian government and conservative-led town halls are currently promoting over 10,000 VPO homes across Malaga province.
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