The diagnosis offered by both Manuel Fitas, general secretary of Sindicalistas de Base, and Isidro Martín, CEO in the Canary Islands of the Association of Real Estate Experts Professionals, announces serious dark clouds over rents in Tenerife and, more specifically, in the south of the Island, which will end with “collapse tourism“, according to the first one. Both agree that “there is no sign that rents are going to drop in price,” because “demand far exceeds supply,” says Isidro Martín.
Martín believes that in “Granadilla, Arona, Adeje and Guía de Isora the demand is tremendous” and all because the supply is so great that there is no housing for so many people, neither buying nor renting. “They are municipalities that interest large investors, especially for vacation homes,” he remarks. For this reason, he is committed to “returning to the construction of VPO, which has not been done in the last 20 years”, although he adds that “this is a long-term solution.” “Because here we continue to take more than a year to grant a building permit,” he points out, to highlight the need for “the Government to acquire these unfinished or closed buildings and make them available for social or affordable rental, as has been the case.” announcing.”
Where Martín and Fitas do not agree is in blaming vacation rentals for this housing crisis in the south of Tenerife or in the metropolitan area. For Martín, the new Housing Law has increased this supply and has scared away residential rentals: “It is pure interventionism. The offer is going to disappear, because the owner will put it up for vacation rental or close it due to legal uncertainty.” On the other hand, in the opinion of Fitas, vacation rentals have displaced workers from tourist areas to the midlands. “A complaint that we already made in 2014 and that today, with tourist numbers higher than 2019, is contributing to workers from El Sauzal or La Matanza, or other islands, not accepting a hotel job due to lack of a home for their families,” he remarks.
As a solution, Fitas transferred to Ashotel the possibility of ending split shifts in the sector. In that same meeting with the Adeje City Council there was talk of freeing up land to build 300 homes for affordable rentals (300 euros, with one room, and 500, with two). Today, the price per square meter is between 12 and 15 euros, an average of 700 euros for only 60 square meters. And yet, it is almost impossible to find a “For Rent” sign.
