Brussels Moves to Curb Foreign Home Purchases

The islands also want the European Union to take their specific circumstances into account when providing affordable housing.

Housing Minister of the Canary Islands government, Pablo Rodríguez, highlighted that the housing problem has become the top concern for Canary citizens—a concern shared across Spain and the European Union, according to the digital outlet Lancelot.

For this reason, the regional executive will travel to Brussels in the first week of November to try to restrict the purchase of homes by non‑resident foreigners.

“The goal is to address everything that relates to the specificities of our territory, based on what the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union stipulates, so that the conditions of the Canary Islands are taken into account. This includes, among other things, limiting—or possibly limiting—property purchases by non‑resident foreigners,” explained Pablo Rodríguez, Housing Minister of the Canary Islands government.

The Canary Islands also seek EU recognition of their particularities to promote affordable housing.

“The EU has, for the first time, presented a concrete strategy to facilitate affordable housing across the Union. So much so that President Clavijo and I have traveled to Brussels on several occasions to hold meetings, urging the EU to consider the ultra‑peripheral status of our region in its affordable‑housing strategy,” Rodríguez added.

Rodríguez also stressed that construction costs in the Canary Islands are significantly higher than in the rest of Spain, a disparity that should be acknowledged and compensated within the EU’s affordable‑housing framework.