Catalan housing officials and property companies are taking part in The District in Madrid on Wednesday, the second day of the real-estate conference's first edition outside Barcelona. The event runs at Ifema Madrid until Thursday 24 September.
For Catalan residents facing limited access to affordable homes, the relocation means Barcelona is no longer hosting this industry meeting, while the Generalitat and Catalan firms are using the Madrid event to set out how they believe new affordable housing can be delivered. The programme includes more than 190 sessions on property investment, new-build technology and affordable housing, according to VIA Empresa's event reporting.
The conference opened on Tuesday with a protest inside Pavilion 6. Three activists, dressed in business clothing, threw leaflets and released a foul-smelling substance after challenging Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, over the planned eviction of an 87-year-old woman named Maricarmen. Spain's Policía Nacional, the national police force, intervened.
Public land proposed for affordable homes
Pere Picorelli, housing director at Incasòl, the Generalitat's public land and urban-development institute, told the conference that public land reserves are central to Catalonia's plan for 50,000 homes.
“The reservation of public land is a key tool in the 50,000-home plan to promote affordable housing over the long term, in collaboration with local governments and the private sector.”
The proposal places public bodies, councils and private developers in the same delivery model. Robin Decaux, co-founder and chief executive of Barcelona-based property-investment firm Equito, said investors would compare returns with other cities when deciding where to invest.
“If we do not achieve an attractive return compared with Madrid or Valencia, the investor will always choose those cities.”
Ferran Font, spokesperson and research director at property portal pisos.com, said Barcelona had lost an industry meeting point with the conference's departure. He said the sector needed clearer legal stability for investors who finance housing construction.
Madrid edition continues until Thursday
The District is expected to attract more than 20,000 attendees and generate an estimated economic impact of €42 million, according to the organisers' figures reported by VIA Empresa. The same report said ticket sales were 30% higher than for the previous edition.
Columat, a smart-locker company founded in Sant Cugat del Vallès in 2018, is due to take part in a Wednesday discussion with CBRE and Reale Seguros on building design, user experience and technology. The company says its lockers handle deliveries, collections and other exchanges in residential and office buildings, using QR-code access and its Columat Manager software.
The conference remains open at Ifema Madrid on Wednesday and closes on Thursday 24 September.
Reported by viaempresa.cat.
