The Minister of Housing, Development, Logistics and Territorial Cohesion of Aragón, Octavio López, has announced that the Governing Council has recently decided "unanimously" not to proceed with any procedure for the declaration of Stressed Residential Market Areas (ZMRT) in the community. He insisted that this stance is not due to an "ideological decision, but rather adopted under the highest criteria of public responsibility."
López appeared before the media this Tuesday, accompanied by the Director General of Housing, María Pía Canals, to review his three years at the head of the department. He detailed that since 2023 the regional Executive has launched 3,000 public housing units and that the legislature's objective is to reach 7,000, compared to the 86 promoted between 2015 and 2023 and the 1,289 promoted by the different Aragonese governments in the last 45 years.
"We are the first autonomous community in Spain in public housing and the third in protected housing," the minister remarked, before warning that Aragón requires "at least ten continuous years of persistent work to solve the serious housing problem, and we have adopted a reasonable roadmap."
In this regard, he argued that "the solution to the housing problem is not through the regulation of private prices, but through the increase in public development supply." To this end, the regional government relies on instruments it describes as "powerful," such as the Aragón Más Vivienda 2024-2030 Plan and, within it, the 'Más Vivienda, Mejor Turismo' program, with which nearly 500 housing units are being promoted for workers in 43 municipalities with high tourism pressure, with an investment of over 80 million euros.
The resolution of the Governing Council, which will be published in the coming days in the Official Gazette of Aragón (BOA), "is based on the full exercise of the autonomous community's exclusive powers in housing matters, supported by the Constitutional Court and on practical reports and data demonstrating the detrimental effects that rent price controls have generated in the territories where they are applied," López explained.
Regional powers and legal framework
The agreement is based on the State's lack of capacity to impose the application of ZMRT and on the fact that Article 71.10ª of the Statute of Autonomy recognizes Aragon's exclusive competence in housing. This power is reinforced by Article 18.1 of Law 12/2023 for the right to housing, which establishes that the competent administrations "may" declare such areas, without mandatory character.
The counselor recalled that this optional nature was confirmed by the Constitutional Court in its Judgment 79/2024, of May 21, 2024, which clarifies that communities that choose not to apply this figure do not violate the law, but rather exercise a legitimate option. Furthermore, he pointed out that "the Government of Aragon maintains that the limitation of rents on private property constitutes a partial expropriatory system without compensation that transfers to individuals a burden that constitutionally corresponds to public authorities".
Catalonia's experience as a reference
To assess the real impact of rent control, the Aragonese Executive has analyzed the case of Catalonia, where ZMRT have been in force since March 2024. Based on the Report on the advisability of introducing a rent control system for residential rentals in the Balearic Islands, prepared by Sergio Nasarre and Santiago Ariste for the Unesco Chair of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, the counselor pointed out that significant negative effects have been detected in Catalonia.
As he detailed, there has been a sharp contraction in supply, with a noticeable decrease in the number of ordinary residential rental contracts after the system came into force. He also cited the "upward trend in rental prices per square meter," which, far from becoming cheaper, remain high and tend to continue rising.
López has also highlighted the displacement of part of the housing stock towards segments not subject to limits, such as seasonal rentals, by rooms, for tourist use, or even towards buying and selling. Added to this is the "loss of quality and surface area," with a reduction in the average size of homes offered and the risk of deterioration of residential heritage due to less investment in conservation in the medium and long term. He has also alluded to the so-called 'border effect,' whereby the fall in supply in regulated municipalities increases demand and raises prices in neighboring localities without restrictions.
Aragon's own housing model
Against this backdrop, López has focused on the Aragon More Housing Plan 2024-2030, in force since March 2024, which articulates programs adapted to Aragon's territorial and demographic reality. Among them, the 'More Housing, Better Tourism' program stands out again, with almost 500 homes for workers in 43 tourist municipalities and more than 80 million euros of investment.
He has also highlighted the Special Directive for Public Endowed Housing, protected by article 15 of Law 12/2023 and approved by Decree 128/2024, of July 17. This directive has allowed unlocking files to build almost 3,000 public homes in its two years of application, based on public-private collaboration formulas through concessions on publicly owned land.
"We have not closed ourselves off to applying the few positive aspects of the state housing law," such as article 15, admitted the counselor, who nevertheless described the norm as a whole as "disastrous."
For all these reasons, López has reiterated that "in Aragon, no procedures will be processed for the declaration of Stressed Residential Market Zones until scientific reports are available that contradict the negative effects derived from these regulations."
In relation to municipalities such as Biescas or Aínsa, which have shown their willingness to request the declaration of a stressed zone, he specified that "those requests have not yet arrived," but assured that the regional Executive "will not make the declaration, because we understand that it seriously harms" the functioning of the market.
The Government of Aragon, it has insisted, will continue to orient its housing policy towards the increase of public housing or housing with some type of protection as a priority way to moderate prices and guarantee access to decent housing.
"We are not going to apply Residential Market Tensioned Zones because we have a more effective alternative consisting of increasing the supply in the 43 most tourist municipalities in Aragon, so that workers in the sector have 488 affordable rental homes with an investment of 80 million euros to solve the housing problem in those areas, without distorting the market and without applying recipes that harm owners and tenants, by reducing supply and further increasing prices," he stated.
To conclude, he assured: "Aragon is a benchmark in national housing policy, today Aragon is called upon to know what is happening due to the multiplication of housing in a short time."