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San Sebastian University Business School |
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| The housing sector has undoubtedly
seen a major boom
in recent years. The number of
homes built has increased considerably
in all areas of the Basque
Country, along with their
market prices (calculated by
the square metre). However,
though these characteristics are
common both locally and elsewhere,
it can not be said that the other aspects of the housing situation
have shown the same tendency and nature in all areas
of South and The North Basque Country.
If we look closely at the housing situation, we find both similarities
and differences, and above all, different ways of presenting
the facts – in other words, with different types of statistics.
Nevertheless, there is no generalised tendency which highlights
all the statistics, namely the significant rise in prices reflected
in the figures and the charts. Indeed, over the last seven
years the price of a new home has increased significantly in the
three territories. This rise has fluctuated between 74% and 132%.
The greatest increases have occurred in The South Basque
Country, mainly in the Basque Autonomous Community (hereafter
referred to as BAC) where the price per square metre has
risen from 1,569 euros to 3,646 euros, followed by Nafarroa Garaia
(from 925 euros to 1,698 euros). Lastly, The North Basque
Country has seen a considerable increase in house prices (1,654
euros to 2,871 euros), though the percentage rise is lower than
in The South Basque Country.
On the other hand, as we have
said, things have evolved differently
in other parts of the Basque
Country. The policies implemented
in recent years enable us to draw up
a social profile of each administrative
area and thus it is possible to
predict whether the differences that
have existed in the past will become
greater or be reduced. In this way we can conclude that, in terms
of the nature of the construction of new housing, each area of
the Basque Country shows its own particular trajectory.
In other words, though the construction of homes – whether
for the open market or
for officially protected
housing schemes – has
risen in all areas, this
trend has played out
differently in each as a
consequence of local
policies. In fact it must
be emphasised that we
are talking about two
states with very different
traditions in housing policy. Traditions in one state (rented
social housing in North Basque Country) have very different characteristics
and consequences than in the other (officially protected
housing in The South Basque Country).
In the two administrative areas within the Spanish state - Nafarroa
Garaia and the BAC - housing policies have generally followed
the Mediterranean model (Allen, J., J. Barlow, J. Leal, T.
Maloutas, and L. Padovani, 2004; Etxezarreta, 2007) typical of
backward and inadequate welfare states (Esping-Andersen, 2000;
Barlow and Duncan, 1994), with policies inextricably bound up
with ownership and with very little development of public housing
stock.
Within the French state, in contrast, the welfare state has
been more strongly developed and has implemented more corporatist
housing policies similar to those of northern Europe (Trilla,
2001; Priemus and Dieleman, 2002). The concept of social
housing has been taken more literally and local housing policy has been based on a public social renting housing stock. North
and The South Basque Country are thus very different from each
other in terms of housing policies.
As policies based on different concepts have to be treated
differently, when we talk of “intervened” housing and “public”
housing in this study, we are referring to protected housing in
BAC and in Nafarroa Garaia (mostly owner-occupied officially
protected housing, known as “Vivienda de Protección Oficial”
or VPO) and to social renting in The North Basque Country (rented
accommodation of the kind found throughout Europe except
where the Mediterranean model is followed).
Going back to the results of our analysis, in order to compare
the three areas we can look at the relative percentages for
new public and private housing. This helps us in some degree to
define the “level of intervention” in each area. This is the idea
which is illustrated in the chart shown below.
The main conclusions drawn from this analysis are as follows:
firstly, over the period analysed the relative amount of public housing
rose more sharply in the BAC. As the chart shows, taking public
housing as a ratio of home construction for the open market,
in the BAC this went from 80% to 120% by the end of the period.
However, in Nafarroa Garaia, the figure starts off at 60% and
after a clear downward tendency (reaching a low of 10% in 2004),
it ends up at around 40% at the end of the period. Lastly, in The
North Basque Country, the availability of new social rental housing
shows a clear decline, from an initial 40% to a final 20%.
The level of public intervention seems, therefore, to have
been greatest in the BAC over these years, compared to Nafarroa
Garaia and The North Basque Country. This is one of the main
conclusions that can be drawn from this analysis. Furthermore,
in the BAC the variable defined began at a relatively high level
and has shown an upward trend, whereas in Nafarroa Garaia and
The North Basque Country, public intervention has declined,
though it has shown a slight increase over the last two years.
Secondly, the importance of traditional policies has been
confirmed, given that the latest statistics also bear out the customary
structural differences. In other words, in The South Basque
Country the policy of social rental housing has gained little
strength as yet (as indicated by its absence from the statistics),
and in the statistics for The North Basque Country there is no public
or “intervened” housing in addition to social rental housing.
Given this data, it can not be claimed that there is any process
of convergence under way between these three areas, but
neither can we say that the North-The South Basque Country dichotomy
is being reinforced, as in recent years we see that the
traditional policies have been applied more weakly in both territories.
In fact, the housing sector was going through one of
the worst moments in its history. In future, therefore, further
research will have to be carried out into trends and developments
in the housing situation and housing policy in the different
administrative areas of the Basque Country, and the compatible
and differential processes involved.
For The North Basque Country housing sector, statistics show on the one hand how the construction of new homes is divided between those for sale either privately or to collectives; and on the other hand they show the number of social rental housing units2. If we examine the trends, the ratio of collective housing has been on the increase, albeit a slight one, and in regard to the land use in the territory there is trend leaning towards sustainable development (indeed we know that the chaotic rise in numbers of individual homes -originating from over-flexible legislation- was very harmful from the perspective of sustainable development).
However, as far as The North Basque Country territory is concerned,
the figures provided by the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce
confirm that the number of individual homes rose by 9.7%
in The North Basque Country between 1999 and 2005, compared
to collectives which rose by 23.5%. On the other hand, rented
social housing went into decline from 2001 onwards, till it
reached a point where its 2006 ratio was below 1999 levels (23%
and 28% respectively).
As for prices, these have increased by an equal amount for
new private houses and for rented social housing. The price of
individual homes has gone up by 70% and the collectives by 73%.
However, the price of rented social housing has risen by 20%. Prices
rose spectacularly in 2002 and 2003: in two years, the price
of individual homes rose by 40% and collective homes by 45%.
Nafarroa Garaia housing sector data enables us to analyse how
new homes - protected or open market - are distributed. After fluctuating
development, the percentage of protected housing has
gone into decline overall. In 1997 51% of new homes were protected;
by 2004 this had fallen to 11% and in 2006 the figure was 31%.
The price of homes on the open market has more than doubled.
There was steady growth from 1997 to 2006, the price per
square metre rising
from 798 to
1,698 euros. Besides
this, the maximum
price per
square metre of
officially protected
housing (VPO)
also went up, increasing
between
2000 and 2006 by
70% from 785 to
1,338 euros.
Various conclusions
can be drawn
from the Basque
Autonomous Community
housing
sector figures. Firstly, ten years being analysed, it must be emphasised
that the amount of protected housing has increased considerably.
In 1996, only 10% of new homes were officially protected,
whereas by 2006 this figure had reached 28% after a steady
increase year by year. Rented accommodation, on the other
hand, occupied a small percentage of the number of homes
on offer each year at the beginning of the period (6% in 1996 and
10% in 1997), and after falling, this percentage rose slightly at
the end of the period (9% in 2005 and 12% in 2006).
As for house prices, these rose both in the case of protected
homes and private ones. However, the increase was greater in
the private sector. Over the period analysed, the price per square
metre rose by 143% in homes on the open market – from 1,502
to 3,646 euros. In the case of homes with some kind of protected
status (officially protected housing and social rental), prices
increased by 85% - from 696 euros per square metre to 1,285
euros.
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In the Pdf together with the analysis includes a brief report that gives us a perspective on the subject. |