Canary Islands push for limits on foreign home buying at World Urban Forum
The European Commission’s representative warns that “the proposal would go against the EU principles of free movement of persons and goods.”
Housing Policy Debate
Vice‑president Octavio Caraballo, a member of the President’s cabinet, pressed Matthew Baldwin, director of the European Commission’s Housing Working Group, for measures that would restore balance to the real‑estate market, especially in densely populated, high‑tourism areas such as the archipelago.
“After 41 years in the European Union, the Canary Government believes the current situation is fundamentally different and that exceptional initiatives are needed to tackle a very worrying housing crisis,” Caraballo said.
The discussion took place during the 13th World Urban Forum in Baku, organized by UN‑Habitat, where the Canary Islands also hosted a debate on the international recognition of urban development challenges faced by island territories with intense demographic pressure.
Caraballo highlighted the acute concern for housing in the most strained zones, noting that they are “living a critical situation due to the surge in rental prices, fundamentally driven by the influx of the vacation‑rental market.”
He reiterated that the Canary Government has, in recent years, urged the adoption of proposals such as limiting property purchases by non‑residents. The European Commission’s representative, however, maintained that such a measure would conflict with core EU principles, including the free movement of people and goods.
“We must look for exceptional alternatives to address the unique needs of a territory like the Canary Islands,” Caraballo added.
Blue Innovation
Adriana Regidor, head of the Responsible Islands Strategy for the Canary Government, joined coastal and island representatives in a debate on the accelerated risks these territories face due to climate change. She warned that these hazards trigger cascading urban impacts that threaten housing, livelihoods, critical infrastructure, basic services, and local economies—especially on low‑lying islands with limited adaptive capacity.
Regidor emphasized that the Canary Islands are building a systemic climate‑resilience agenda. Adaptation, she explained, “is not limited to protecting the coast against sea‑level rise or responding to extreme events; it also encompasses water security, energy stability, urban renaturalisation, public health, the blue economy, applied research, business innovation, climate education, and multilevel governance.”
“The archipelago is becoming an Atlantic laboratory of resilience, capable of turning structural vulnerabilities—such as water scarcity, energy isolation, coastal pressure, urban heat, environmental degradation, and economic dependence—into opportunities for innovation, institutional cooperation, productive diversification, and climate justice.”
Inter‑Island Network Proposal
During the forum, Caraballo, accompanied by Responsible Islands Lab technicians Adriana Regidor and Itahisa Hernández, met with UN‑Habitat representatives in Spain. They presented a proposal to create an Inter‑Island Network for sharing knowledge and experience among island territories on issues of particular relevance, including housing management, territorial development, and climate‑change impacts.
The Canary Islands’ participation was selected from more than 600 initiatives.
Global Housing Crisis
The World Urban Forum underscored the urgent need to confront the global housing crisis and its central role in sustainable urban development. The Canary Executive highlighted that access to a home is a fundamental pillar for socio‑economic development in the archipelago, closely linked to the Canary Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Globally, nearly 3 billion people lack adequate housing, 1.1 billion live in informal settlements or slums, and 300 million have no house at all. The forum reiterated the pressing necessity to realise the universal right to adequate housing.