Illa opens the door to "intervention measures" in housing in the face of the "failure" of the Catalan market.

The Economic Circle regrets that the Generalitat (Catalan government) is not taking the private sector into account. "Without investment, this issue cannot be resolved," it notes.

"We have to take intervention measures" in the housing sector , as it is a "clear example of market failure." This is what the president of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa (PSC), said before the top business leaders of Catalonia.

At the closing ceremony of the annual meeting of the Economic Circle, a forum for business leaders, academics, and executives, Illa asserted that housing is one of the main factors of social inequality in the region.

He has not given any details about what these "intervention measures" would be, although the president of the Círculo de Economía , Jaume Guardiola, took the opportunity to make it clear to the president that he strongly disagrees with his strategy.

"Without investors, this issue cannot be resolved," he said, referring to the housing crisis. "We feel that the private sector's perspective is not being sufficiently included," the business leader added.

This is not the first time in recent weeks that economic stakeholders have expressed criticism of the Generalitat's policy. The employers' association Foment del Treball and the Association of Developers and Builders (APCE) harshly criticized the increase in the Property Transfer Tax (ITP) , which was agreed upon by the Salvador Illa government (PSC) and the regional representative of Sumar, En Comú Podem.

Illa asserted that in the face of rising prices, "there is no other option" than to "build" due to the lack of supply . He noted that the region would need to add "150,000 homes."

To alleviate this deficit, Illa took advantage of the business meeting to announce the results of the public land reservation call he launched at the end of the year, which seeks to mobilize land to build rental apartments.

In the process, open to all public administrations in Catalonia, 226 municipalities have made 665 plots of land available to the Catalan government. "All of them are in technical condition to begin construction immediately," he added.

In total, these plots of land will "allow for the construction of 21,289 affordable rental homes," 25% of which will be for people under 35 years of age and 8% for people in vulnerable situations.

With this measure, Illa aims to fulfill the promise he made in the fall, shortly after taking office, when he pledged to build 50,000 publicly owned homes by 2030.

Illa said his plan is the "most ambitious" of all those implemented in Spain so far, since through public financing , developers will be compensated for the difference between construction costs and the "minimum profitability" threshold.