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-Has the mayor of Madrid ever joined Idealista?
—Have I entered Idealista?
I know what the website is and I know what the housing problem is, which is one of my main concerns.
José Luis Martínez-Almeida responded like this in his last interview with EL PAÍS, during the May 2023 electoral campaign. The Madrid councilor set housing as one of his main axes for his new mandate.
Nine months later, Carlos Izquierdo, the PP spokesperson in the City Council and also president of the Carabanchel district - the most populated in the capital with more than 240,000 residents - has surprised the rest of the councilors - and even the mayor - with a message on his X profile about the rise in rental prices in this corner of the city.
Izquierdo published a news item from the newspaper on his account
The Reason
:
The price of rent skyrockets in Latina and Carabanchel
.
The mayor of Almeida understands that this increase is a very positive fact for the district.
“Days ago the real estate portals indicated that Carabanchel is the district in which the price of housing increases the most,” he wrote.
“Now, also the price of rent.
Without a doubt, Carabanchel is an increasingly attractive district to live in.
#CarabanchelAvanza”.
Almeida, when asked by the press during an event in the district of Salamanca this Wednesday, settled the matter immediately:
―We work to lower the price of housing.
The news of the rise in prices in Carabanchel came from the Fotocasa portal, which highlighted in its last report in February an increase in housing in the Community of Madrid.
Specifically, it is 12.8% more expensive than in January 2023. Regarding the 21 districts of the capital, the rental price has increased in 17, with Latina (23.9%), Carabanchel (19.6% ) and Arganzuela (19.6%), as the most expensive.
The presiding councilors of Latina and Arganzuela have remained silent, for now.
Days ago, real estate portals pointed out that #Carabanchel is the district in which housing prices are rising the most.
Now also the rental price.
Without a doubt, Carabanchel is an increasingly attractive district to live in.#CarabanchelAvanzahttps://t.co/xf2Rgw27li
— Carlos Izquierdo (@carlosizqtorres) February 20, 2024
“As the price of housing rises,” Izquierdo himself tells EL PAÍS by phone, “it shows that [Carabanchel] is an attractive place.
This is the law of supply and demand.
It is attractive to people and that is why people go to live more in Carabanchel.
In Carabanchel there are about 120,000 homes for working people.
They are not investment funds.
They are private.
If the price goes up, they are the first to benefit.
It's very good news.
That the left wants to distort these data is something we are very used to.”
—The truth is that housing is increasing throughout Madrid, not just in Carabanchel.
―Because we have a national government that has done things very badly in terms of housing.
“We,” Izquierdo continues, “are bringing more housing to the market in two ways.
With land and with promotion.
Therefore, if that had not been done, the price would rise more.
House prices go up for many reasons, but within the house price, I think it is desirable for the house price to be worth more.”
—Are you in favor of capping rental prices?
(The new Housing Law indicates that it would only be possible to cap prices if the communities apply it, but Madrid refuses).
-I'm not a supporter.
He also does not believe that his message on social networks is controversial.
“I didn't have that feeling,” he says.
“What highlights this is that Carabanchel is going from strength to strength and that people want to see it in the district.”
What does the data say?
This Wednesday, the Idealista portal offered 134 rental homes in Carabanchel.
And only three were worth 700 euros.
There were 934 homes for sale.
And only 47 cost less than 100,000 euros.
“The city of Madrid has three problems that should be three priorities: housing, housing and housing,” says Rita Maestre, spokesperson for Más Madrid and leader of the opposition, by phone.
“The same week that we learn that rents have risen almost 13% in a year, we see the PP applauding it.
For the Almeida Government things are going well... and, of course, they are going well for the vulture funds and the big developers.”
Inspiration for artists
The truth is that the district has experienced an explosion of art galleries in recent years.
More student residences, more band rehearsal rooms and a very varied cultural agenda.
Historically, it has been a quarry of artists and inspiration for multiple works, since its annexation to Madrid in 1948. Writers and filmmakers such as Lorenzo Silva or Achero Mañas have been born there;
and famous people like Manolito Gafotas have grown up.
Starting in 2019, when Sabrina Amrani opened the first gallery, it has been the plastic arts that have elevated the district as a cultural reference in the capital.
So much so that Time Out
magazine
chose Carabanchel as the third best neighborhood in the world last October.
“It is to Madrid like SoHo to New York,” the report explained, “a southern neighborhood, once conceived as a working-class area on the outskirts of the city center, which over time has become a “a destination that unites tradition and avant-garde.”
The publication told EL PAÍS last November that 21,000 people from all over the world voted, although it did not know if those who voted had visited the neighborhood.
According to the latest data from the City Council, the average age of the district is 44 years.
Regarding the size of the homes, two out of three are less than 75 square meters.
It is the second, after Usera, with a higher percentage of homes in that range.
The average income is 21,152 euros.
“I was a little in a state of
shock
when I read the councilor's tweet,” says the president of the Carabanchel Alto Neighborhood Association, Pedro Casas, by phone.
“The PP is installed in economic profit and speculation.”
Casas says that the rise in prices has multiplied in the neighborhood in recent years.
“The Porto area is experiencing a speculative process with interested news and lame reports, saying that it is the third best neighborhood in the world to live in.
We are experiencing a process of gentrification of neighborhoods in the district.
The prices here were cheap and now they are not.”
“Carabanchel is very curious,” says Emiliano López, the president of the Vistalegre and Casco Antiguo Neighborhood Association.
“There are already apartments here that cost more than 450,000 euros.
Tourist apartments are multiplying.
They are selling the district as a cultural site, where there is a great quality of life, but in the Abrantes area, for example, there is a health center that practically does not have doctors any day.
Jorge Aranda, a member of the popular assembly of Carabanchel, stated in a report last November that the neighbors have been waiting for a hospital for more than 16 years.
Added to this is the problem of cleaning.
The southern districts receive less municipal budget than the central neighborhoods, despite having a larger area.
Carabanchel, Villaverde and Usera have 262 million, compared to Chamberí, Centro and Tetuán as a whole, which receive 315 million.
In fact, Almeida started a new type of rally here, known as
afternoons with Almeida.
In May, the mayor went to a bar terrace and numerous neighbors – most of whom were party members – asked the district councilor and the councilor about some of the complaints they observed daily in the neighborhood.
“Good afternoon,” said an 80-year-old neighbor, “my street used to have three lanes and now it has two and the noises are enormous.
Why don't they make underground parking?"
Almeida, very attentive, answered:
-In what zone?
-Next to the church.
-OK OK.
The councilor takes note.
And the PP achieved 43% of the votes here in the last municipal and regional elections.
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