Mark Stücklin
A powerful point made at the launch of the notaries’ new property data portal has received far too little attention: improving public transport is one of the best ways to tackle Spain’s housing crisis.
Spain’s housing crisis won’t be solved by rent controls or political slogans — it needs more housing and better transport. As Alberto Martínez Lacambra, director of the Notarial Technology Centre, argued this week, investing in public transport is investing in housing, and he’s absolutely right.
The missing link in Spain’s housing debate
Whenever politicians and housing activists in Spain talk about the housing crisis, they rarely mention transport. Their default response is to blame “speculators”, “vulture funds”, or “greedy landlords”, even though speculation has been largely absent from the Spanish market for years. What they almost never say is that mobility — the ability to reach affordable housing within a reasonable commute — is central to solving the problem.
Not everyone can or wants to live in the city centre
For many families, students, and professionals, the challenge isn’t about living on the most fashionable street in central Madrid or Barcelona; it’s about being able to live somewhere affordable within reach of work, schools, and services. Young adults might prefer the bustle of the city, but plenty of families would rather have space, quiet, and better value for money in the suburbs — if transport makes it practical.
The reality is that not everyone can afford, or even wants, to live in the heart of the city. And that’s perfectly normal. In Tokyo, London, or Paris, commuting 30 or 40 kilometres is routine. But in Spain, where public transport is patchy or inadequate in many metropolitan areas, moving out of the centre often means giving up on accessibility altogether.
Lacambra’s argument makes perfect sense
As Martínez Lacambra put it, “invertir en transporte es invertir en vivienda” — investing in transport is investing in housing. When transport improves, the housing area expands, increasing the supply of homes and easing pressure on city-centre prices. His examples make the point clearly: in Madrid, better transport links make it viable to live in places like Rivas, Getafe, Leganés, or Alcorcón, where homes can cost half as much as in the capital. Around Barcelona, Mataró, Terrassa, or Sabadell offer similar savings — if you can get there efficiently.
He also warned that rising housing prices are becoming a serious concern, and stressed that it is urgent to mobilise public land to help tackle the problem. “The solution for overheated areas on the mainland lies in improving public transport,” he said, noting that in the case of Barcelona and Madrid, better transport links could give residents access to homes that are up to 50% cheaper. It’s a striking reminder of just how powerful transport investment can be as housing policy.
This isn’t a revolutionary idea. It’s common sense backed by urban economics. If policymakers truly want to improve access to housing, they need to link housing and transport policy as part of the same equation.
How misguided housing policy worsens the problem
It gets even worse. Not only do left-wing politicians and housing activists rely on rent controls and social housing quotas that distort price signals, discourage investment, and choke supply, but in their crusade against so-called gentrification they make the problem even harder to solve.
Not only do they ignore the importance of transport — which would give people access to affordable housing beyond the city centre — they also help bring about urban decay in the very areas they claim to defend. Their policies drive out private investment and gradually degrade city centres, leading to a slow but steady decline in maintenance, liveability, and safety. In their effort to protect the city centre from “speculators” and “gentrification” they make it unliveable while failing to offer any viable alternative.
What we should be hearing from politicians
Instead of endless talk about rent controls, squatter rights, and “dignified housing” — as if dignity depended on a postcode — Spain needs a serious housing and transport pact: a long-term plan to connect affordable areas to the economic hubs where jobs are. That’s how you make housing accessible without wrecking the market.
Improving transport doesn’t just move people; it unlocks opportunity. If more politicians grasped that, the Spanish housing debate might finally start moving in the right direction too.
