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Spain launches its own housing portal
You know you’ve got a housing problem when the government gets into the online real estate business. And look, state housing is a perfectly respectable thing. But when the government goes full Silicon Valley — “Wanna see my app?” — desperation is in the air.
Enter CASA 47: Spain’s new state-run listing portal. It's essentially a state-run Idealista, but for affordable rentals only. It's got a paltry 800 listings so far. But PM Pedro Sánchez, like any good startup pitchman, has dreams — big dreams — for his MVP (minimum viable product, natch).
The elevator pitch. Sánchez showed up for the launch to declare that the market is “broken, dislocated, and excludes hundreds of thousands of families from housing” — solid framing, five stars — before pitching his startup’s mission: “Making a home a realistic aspiration, within reach of everyone, with realistic rents for real wages.” We like the direction, but do you have metrics, Mr. Handsome?
Numbers! He went on to claim that regions applying his government’s Housing Law (rent caps, essentially) had seen rents drop 4% or more. Regular readers know we’ve flagged the other side of that story — rent caps have come at the cost of a big drop in available units as landlords pull apartments off the market — but we’ll let him have it today.
And the name? Not addressed. Given Sánchez’s complicated relationship with a certain Donald J. Trump, it's doubtful that the “47” is a nod to the Orange Menace’s job as the U.S.’s 47th president. But a subtle troll? Honestly, wouldn't that be fun?
But enough tongue-in-cheek. What CASA 47 offers to the lucky few who can snag one of its houses is pretty intriguing.
Let us count the ways:
