The APCE association has published an analysis warning about the current state of affordable housing construction. According to the data collected, only 23% of the 131 municipalities that make up the greater Barcelona area registered any provisional qualification for social housing last year.
The report highlights a significant territorial disparity, as the production of these properties is concentrated in a small number of locations. In fact, 89% of metropolitan municipalities registered a ratio of only one social housing unit per 1,000 inhabitants, a figure the sector considers insufficient to meet growing demand.
The productive response of the municipalities continues to be insufficient, slow, and concentrated in a few cities.
Data from the Housing Applicants Registry indicates that 104,004 new requests were added in 2025, while procedures were only initiated for about 3,000 apartments. This means there are 35 applications for every new projected unit.
Faced with this scenario, the association is calling for more developable land, greater agility in urban management, and more effective metropolitan governance. The goal is to reach the 15,500 new homes per year foreseen by the Territorial Sectoral Housing Plan, a target that currently remains far from the 1.7 new construction permits per 1,000 inhabitants registered in the area.
