Spain's housing shares inch up after selloff prompted by government measures
14/01/2025 10:59
Jan 14 (Reuters) - Shares of Spanish residential real estate developers were partly
recovering on Tuesday after a government plan to raise taxes on housing had prompted a selloff
the day before.
Shares of Neinor Homes HOME.MC , Aedas Homes AEDAS.MC , Metrovacesa MVC.MC and
Inmocemento IMCO.MC all took a hit on Monday after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
announced a plan to raise taxes on holiday rentals and set a tax of up to 100% on purchases of
houses by non-European Union foreigners living abroad.
Housing has become a major issue in Spain as it struggles to balance promoting tourism, a
key driver of its economy, with concerns over high rents due to gentrification, exacerbated by
the acquisitions of second residences by wealthy foreigners, and local landlords shifting to
more lucrative, short-term tourist rentals, especially in urban and coastal areas.
Neinor shares were up 4.6% on Tuesday, partly recovering from a 6.9% decline on Monday,
while Aedas were up a scant 0.4% after they lost 3.3% on Monday. Metrovacesa and Inmocemento
kept sliding on Tuesday morning after smaller declines on Monday.
Neinor said late on Monday that it did not expect a significant impact from the proposed
measures, noting that only 2% of its 2024 pre-sales corresponded to non-resident or non-EU
foreigners.
The company added that it sees housing demand as strong enough for any potential decline in
the non-resident, non-EU foreigners segment to be offset by other types of buyers.
(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk, Editing by Inti Landauro and Bernadette Baum)
((gdansk.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 7696600;))