Spain urges EU to curb non-residential property purchases in the Canary Islands

The aim is to reduce pressure on the housing market and facilitate access to homes for young people and vulnerable groups.

“to reduce pressure on the housing market and facilitate access to a home for young people and vulnerable groups.”

The Spanish central government has asked the European Commission for permission to restrict, in the Canary Islands, the purchase of properties that will not be used as primary residences. The proposal is presented as a way to ease the strain on the housing market and help young people and vulnerable groups obtain housing, according to Diario de Avisos.

Earlier, the Canary Islands government had also approached the European Commission to obtain an exception to the RUP (Urban Planning Regulations) concerning housing, with the goal of containing price increases. However, its request took a different angle: it sought to prohibit or limit the purchase of homes in the archipelago by non‑resident foreigners.

In pursuit of the measure, the president of the autonomous community, Fernando Clavijo, travelled to Brussels to persuade the Commission. He presented statistics showing that a significant share of homes listed for sale in the Canary Islands ends up in the hands of foreign buyers, and argued that the islands’ fragmented and limited territory makes housing‑market pressures especially acute for resident populations.