Spain unveils housing 'rescue plan'

Spain’s new Housing Minister has taken immediate action to tackle the country's construction crisis...

According to a recent report in El País, Spain's new Housing Minister Beatriz Corredor has come up with a plan to tackle the crisis facing the construction industry.

Measures include a plan to revitalise the labour-intensive property renovation sector by increasing tax relief on this type of project from 15% to 20%, as well as council subsidies to restore and embellish historic town centres. The three main facets of the rescue plan are:

• To continue to invest in the construction of government-protected housing for young, first-time buyers.
• To incentivise the buy-to-let sector.
• To boost the renovation sector with direct subsidies and fiscal benefits.

This news comes a few days after Spain's housing ministry on Monday revealed it was studying ways to convert some of the 500,000 to 600,000 new, unsold homes on the market into public housing to counter a property slowdown.

A spokesperson for the Housing Ministry explained: “Turning new housing stock into state homes would cut the oversupply depressing the market and help the government raise public housing output to 150,000 units a year from a current 100,000”.

The plan – also led by Ms Corredor - could help remove excess supply within two years and potentially allow a market recovery by 2010.