The Catalan government and the left-wing Catalunya en Comú party have reached a landmark agreement for the 2026 regional budget, featuring a pioneering measure to prohibit speculative home purchases in areas facing intense housing pressure.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

The deal, sealed on Thursday at the Palace of the Generalitat between President Salvador Illa and Comuns leader Jéssica Albiach, marks a significant policy shift aimed at tackling Catalonia’s spiralling housing crisis. However, the budget’s final approval remains uncertain; it hinges on securing support from the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), which has laid out its own demanding conditions.

A New Tool Against Property Speculation

At the agreement’s core is a proposal to reform Catalonia’s urban planning law. This change would empower municipal governments, such as the Barcelona City Council, to designate “tense market” zones where property purchases could be restricted. The aim is to ensure that housing is primarily for residency, not for investment profit.

If the law passes, local councils could create special plans to limit the purchase of homes to individuals who intend to use the property as their primary residence. Restrictions would specifically target large-scale investors and companies, defined as entities owning five or more properties in a high-demand area. Social housing organisations would be exempt. The Comuns party is pushing for the Catalan Parliament to approve this legal modification within the first half of 2026.

“Today is a historic day because Catalonia becomes the first autonomous community where we lay the foundations to ban speculative purchases through city councils,” Albiach declared in a press conference. She emphasised that with the new law, “no one will be able to buy to speculate.”

The move has immediately put pressure on Barcelona’s Socialist mayor, Jaume Collboni. Gemma Tarafa, leader of the Comuns’ municipal faction, urged the mayor to ensure Barcelona is the “first city” to implement the ban once the legal framework is in place.

More Than Just Housing

The budget agreement extends beyond the property market, allocating significant funds to social welfare and public infrastructure. The Generalitat has committed €1.25 billion of its own resources to housing policies, including a €100 million boost to rental assistance and €300 million to expand the public housing stock.

Other key social measures include:

  • An additional €100 million to fund 100,000 more free school meal grants over the next two years.
  • Annual €25 cheques for young people to purchase menstrual products (ages 12-25) and contraceptives (ages 16-25).
  • Funds are allocated to finally build a permanent home for the Institut-Escola 30 Passos in La Sagrera, which has operated from temporary cabins for nearly a decade.

The deal also revives a long-demanded public transport project: the connection of the L1 and L3 metro lines between Trinitat Nova and Trinitat Vella. This link, which would bridge a major urban barrier in the districts of Sant Andreu and Nou Barris, is a priority, though a specific timeline remains unset. Residents, who have seen previous promises shelved, remain cautiously optimistic.

The ERC Hurdle

Despite the comprehensive agreement between the Socialists and Comuns, the 2026 budget is far from secure. To pass in the Catalan Parliament, the budget requires the support or abstention of another major party. All eyes are now on ERC and its leader, Oriol Junqueras.

Junqueras has been unequivocal. ERC will not begin budget negotiations until the Spanish central government agrees to cede 100% of IRPF collection and management to Catalonia. This demand for fiscal sovereignty is a cornerstone of ERC’s platform and serves as a critical bargaining chip in negotiations for both the Catalan and the Spanish national budgets.

As reported by ABC Cataluña, Illa’s government is now in a waiting game. The progressive policies agreed with the Comuns could signal a new direction for the region, but their implementation rests entirely on the outcome of a high-stakes political standoff over fiscal power.