Recent demographic change and housing in Spain: Towards a new housing system? ¿hacia un nuevo sistema residencial?

This article addresses the relationship between population and housing in Spain by using an interpretative approach based on demographic techniques. The main aims are to ascertain the rapid recent development in the Spanish housing system, and to explore how it will fare in the near future. To do so, some arguments are presented for the need to analyse housing systems from a comparative perspective. The situation in Spain in the international context is analysed, and the dynamics and change in the Spanish housing system are dealt with empirically. The empirical analysis highlights that it is important to take into account temporal dimensions, particularly age. It is confirmed that a new stage of extremely low demand for main residences is currently emerging, which may be aggravated by the current economic crisis and its effects on family formation. In addition, rental is identified as an option for enabling young people to have access to housing, and thus home ownership is questioned as the prevailing feature of the Spanish housing system in the future.