According to the social report of the new Municipal Urban Planning Plan (POUM), the annual average of protected flats built in Lleida between 2020 and 2023 barely reaches twenty, a figure representing only 3.5% of what was built forty years ago. This reduction is eight times lower than the average of 159 units per year recorded during the period from 2000 to 2009, amidst the real estate boom.
Most of these protected homes are over three decades old, which explains why by the end of 2023, only 3,739 maintained their valid qualification. This number continues to decrease, as hundreds of homes have lost or will lose this status in 2024 and 2025. The Government provisionally extended the validity for 666 of these flats in Lleida city, as in other Catalan municipalities declared as tense residential market areas.
The POUM document also highlights the scarcity of publicly promoted housing in the city, with only 108 completed between 1990 and 2023. This situation means that the construction of social housing largely depends on private companies.
“"The business of a development is not done in five months, but in two years, so we need regulatory certainty, in addition to more financing facilities. Public aid is needed."
The report also reveals that the price of second-hand homes in Lleida has increased by 21.3% between 2004 and 2024, slightly exceeding the 20.6% increase in new homes. The average price of a second-hand flat in 2024 was 105,000 euros, while a new one was 158,000 euros. As for rent, it increased by 55% between 2005 and 2023, with an average price of 742.7 euros for a sample of 52 flats in February 2025.
