Beyond the usual causes like low supply, high demand, speculation, or lack of land, the housing crisis is also explained by less visible phenomena. Experts refer to these as “changes in cohabitation patterns,” which mean that the same population size requires a greater number of homes.
“"For the same population, we need more housing, and this is a very significant challenge."
Carles Donat, director of the Metropolitan Housing Observatory, frames this situation within what is known as the second demographic transition. This phenomenon is characterized by a decline in birth rates, a progressive aging of the population, greater diversity in family models, and a notable increase in single-person households, whether due to marital breakdowns or the personal decision to live alone. Added to these factors are the arrivals of population from outside the metropolitan area, especially due to international migration, which poses the challenge of increasing the regular housing stock.
Another determining factor is the depletion of the housing stock left by the previous real estate crisis. After the bubble burst, many flats remained empty, but this reserve has been absorbed over the last decade, leaving the market without this buffer. This situation creates a growing imbalance between an increasing number of households and a housing stock that is not growing at the same rate, driving, for example, the increase in shared households, which already represent 16% of the total in the metropolitan area.
