Over 2,000 officially protected housing units (VPO) change hands every year in Euskadi. The Basque Government is preparing measures to strengthen control over these sales and prevent the hidden overpricing that, according to the Minister of Housing, Denis Itxaso, occurs in some of these transactions.
In an interview with NOTICIAS DE GIPUZKOA, Itxaso defended the need to act in a market where "there are outrageous practices" and some sellers use the mandatory purchase of kitchens, furniture, or other items to effectively increase the legal price of protected housing.
“We are seeing over 2,000 VPO transactions per year in Euskadi,” explained the minister. “We must ensure we do everything possible to curb fraud in the sale of protected housing, for which this country made a great effort in previous decades to build, and which are now, under the guise of furniture, being sold at prices far above the established rate.” Itxaso acknowledged that the Basque Government has become increasingly aware of this phenomenon in recent years.
The minister insisted that the problem lies not in buyers and sellers freely agreeing to sell certain belongings, but in making that purchase a mandatory condition to access the housing: “You can sell your VPO and reach an agreement with the buyer for the kitchen or furniture, but it cannot be mandatory. Because when it becomes mandatory, the seller sets the price. You can set any price you want, as long as it's mandatory for me to buy it.”
The proposal, advanced this week, involves the Basque Government acting as an intermediary in these operations to ensure that protected housing is transferred respecting the maximum legal prices and the access criteria established for this residential stock. This means indicating who the buyer should be from the Etxebide lists.
The "lesson" from Benta Berri
The crackdown on VPO fraud is part of a broader strategy to preserve the protected housing stock in Euskadi. Within this context, Itxaso himself frames the reflection generated by the case of the 510 rental VPOs in Benta Berri, Donostia, owned by the investment fund Blackstone, whose protection expires in 2028.
“The first and most important lesson is that when there is will, complex issues can be resolved. We must have courage and determination,” he stated.
The minister explained to NOTICIAS DE GIPUZKOA that the Basque Government will propose that protected housing from the old regime does not automatically lose its protected status when located in municipalities declared as "tensioned zones."
“We are going to propose that in tensioned zones, housing that was de-qualified after 20 or 30 years does not lose its qualification.”
“We are going to propose that in tensioned zones, housing that was de-qualified after 20 or 30 years does not lose its qualification,” he said. In his view, this is about “correcting a historical error” and sending a clear signal of protection to tenants.
The measure would directly impact developments such as those in Benta Berri, currently owned by the SOCIMI Testa Homes, controlled by the Blackstone fund. In recent months, residents have urged Basque institutions to implement mechanisms to prevent these homes from moving to the free market once their protection period ends.
Itxaso argued that protected housing was created precisely to cushion market tensions and warns that it would be difficult to justify that, in the current context of a residential crisis, these properties could become assets generating large capital gains. “There are homes waiting to be liberalized to generate capital gains that are already very harsh in the free market. Protected housing was created precisely to curb these increases,” he stated.
“These will surely be controversial measures, but determination is needed,” he concluded.
