How many empty homes are there in the Canary Islands? Is there enough developable land?

The Government of the Canary Islands has commissioned the public company Visocan to produce reports on empty housing and developable land available in the archipelago.

Both commissions are part of the launch of the Canary Islands Housing Observatory, whose website will be presented tomorrow, Friday, June 6, as announced in a parliamentary committee by the Minister of the sector, Pablo Rodríguez.

The Observatory, Rodríguez explained, will publish semi-annual reports on the main housing data, both public and private, and will also prepare other monographs such as those announced today on empty housing and developable land.

In the case of empty housing, the Minister explained, "we have been talking for a long time about the supposed" 210,000 in the Canary Islands, according to the National Institute of Statistics, and the intention is to refine the analysis to find out how many of these are habitable and in what conditions they are.

The other monographic report will focus on whether there is enough developable land for the existing housing demand and in accordance with the population growth sustained during the last years, without having to consume new surface.

The Canary Islands Housing Observatory will provide information segregated by islands and municipalities and will be a tool for public policies that the Canary Islands executive adopts on the matter, the Minister asserted.

Pablo Rodríguez welcomed the suggestion of the NC deputy Carmen Hernández to incorporate a profile of the applicant, as the Housing Observatory of the Basque Country has.

Hernández has suggested other contents that this tool should incorporate, such as the publication of the stressed areas in the archipelago, on the purchase and sale of homes and on the rental market.