In the midst of a housing emergency in the Balearics, with real estate portals where there are barely twenty flats for rent for less than 1,000 euros in Palma and with the highest prices in Spain, there is the paradox that one out of every three homes built on the islands is either empty or is a second home and is only used for a few days a year.
The data of the Census of Dwellings published by the National Institute of Statistics, from the year 2021, are the evidence of this contradiction in which there are large sections of Balearic society living on the breadline while there are 210,587 homes that are empty or are only used as second homes.
The latest Official Housing Census shows that in the Balearics there are 652,123 dwellings. Of these, 441,536 are primary residences and are therefore fully used. The Census adds that another 105,434 are empty and there are another 105,153 that are destined for sporadic housing, with a very limited use. The conclusion is that one out of every three buildings on the Islands has hardly any use.
While the percentage of main homes on the Islands is decreasing, the number of inhabitants continues to increase, which is an added problem for the real estate situation in the Balearics.
According to population data from the National Institute of Statistics, the population of the Islands increased in the decade between 2011 and 2021, the years in which the censuses were taken, by a total of 91,759 people but the main homes only increased by just over 11,000. The result is that more and more people are forced to share housing or live with their parents because of the impossibility of finding a flat or house at an affordable price.
In the midst of the drama in which many people live, the figure is shocking in itself, but even more so when compared to the previous Housing Census, which was carried out ten years ago. What has happened in the last ten years, has the situation improved or worsened? As expected, the reality of the data is that the situation has worsened. In 2011, 73.3% of everything built in the Balearics was primary housing. In 2021, the figure has dropped and the percentage of main homes in the Islands has fallen to 67%.
Logically, at the same time, the percentage of non-main residence has increased, with a particularly alarming figure for empty dwellings. In this respect, according to official INE data, the increase over 10 years has been 47.9%, a figure which some experts question, but which the Institute of Statistics maintains for the time being intact. The other major item, second homes, is also eloquent: it has increased by 22.67% in 10 years. The result is that the number of dwellings built in the Islands is growing, but they are not destined for the resident population, but remain empty or are used as holiday homes.
Another fact that gives an idea of the enormous distortion that exists in the real estate world of the Islands: according to the INE, in 10 years the housing stock on the Islands has increased by 65,414 units. The reality, however, is that only 11,799 of them have a main use and the remaining 53,615 are not in use because they are empty or used for holidays.
And when it comes to second homes, those owned by Britons or “third party nationals” who are not residents, they can only be used for a maximum of 90 days at a time as a results of Brexit and EU rule which does not help the situation either.