How not to solve an “affordability” crisis.

Spain’s Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez began 2026 by announcing new measures to combat the country’s housing crisis. Speaking on January 12 at the launch of the Campamento project, which will see 10,700 state-owned homes built on a former military site west of Madrid, Sánchez vowed to “continue intervening in the housing market.”

New York’s new leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office on January 1, is on a similar crusade, and has promised to “stand up for the residents of this city.” In a congratulatory message to Mamdani, Sánchez said that his victory “was a sign of where the energy resides today—with those who offer hope, not fear.” Both leaders are on mission to reduce the severity of their respective housing crises—but have they correctly identified the cause of the problem?

Sánchez claims that Spain’s property market has become a playground for greedy profiteers, who are denying Spaniards their Constitutional right to housing by pricing them out of markets. The “urgent and decisive” measures that he will pass in the next few weeks include tighter sanctions on tourism rentals and incentives for landlords to rent to long-term tenants, such as a 100% rebate for those who renew leases without raising rates.

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