canary islands homes ready build 5000

Over 5,000 homes ready to build in Canary Islands

Thousands of homes stalled as housing crisis deepens

In the midst of a housing emergency, the Canary Islands has 58,464 new homes planned within large-scale developments that are either already underway or included in the planning frameworks of many municipalities across the archipelago. Of these, more than 5,000 are on the verge of being built. These thousands of homes, envisaged within these major urban expansion areas, could help alleviate the housing shortage, or at least mark a step towards making home ownership more accessible for many Canary Islanders.

These 5,000 homes form part of residential sectors that are either already fully developed or are well advanced in the process — meaning the land has been parcelled out, utility connections are in place, and in some cases, basic links to other services have been established. In some instances, finished buildings already stand on these sites, occupied by families. So, on paper at least, these 5,000 homes are ready for construction to start, yet for various reasons, the work has never gone ahead.

Only 13.2% of planned homes built

This is according to the Residential Sectors in Spain 2025 report, recently published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda. The document reveals that across 38 major developments — only those capable of accommodating at least 1,000 homes were included — a total of 67,301 houses were originally planned. However, despite many of these projects having been on the drawing board for years, only 8,837 have actually been built. This leaves a shortfall of 58,464 homes, which could become the homes of thousands of families.

It is important to note that these 58,464 homes are not the total number of homes planned across the Canary Islands, as the report only covers those in large residential zones. There may be other, smaller pockets of land or individual plots scattered across the islands where construction is also possible.

A tale of two types of stalled development

Within the 58,464 homes still to be completed in the archipelago’s large developments, the situation varies considerably. The more than 5,000 homes mentioned above are those located in fully urbanised zones with a high degree of buildability. As the report states, these are potentially the easiest to get started on, since the land is already serviced and there may even be completed, identical buildings nearby.

Yet the circumstances surrounding these 5,000 potential homes can be very different, as can the reasons why, even decades after they were first planned, they remain unfinished. Some may be buildings where construction began and was abandoned after the 2008 property crash, leaving behind ghost structures. Others may involve disputes among landowners or legal conflicts over the site or wider development that have delayed work for years.

Specific zones with ready-to-build plots

Examples of residential sectors in the Canary Islands that are already developed and contain some of these 5,000 pending homes include Las Rehoyas-Arapiles and Tamaraceite Sur in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, La Caleta in Adeje, and Punta Larga in the municipality of Candelaria.

Beyond these 5,000 homes, there are approximately 16,000 planned within large, fully urbanised spaces — meaning they have streets, plots, and connections for sewage and telecommunications — but with a very low degree of buildability. In other words, no buildings have been constructed there yet, and in many cases, these are empty plots of land waiting to be transformed into vibrant neighbourhoods.

The long wait for the remaining 37,000 homes

The remainder of the 58,000-plus homes yet to be built are located in areas where no development has taken place at all — for now, just vast tracts of land with the ambition of one day becoming a housing estate.

According to the data from the ministry led by Isabel Rodríguez, the Canary Islands has only managed to bring to market 13.2 per cent of the homes planned under existing zoning for these large developments. And all this at a time of a genuine housing emergency, where a shortage of supply — among other factors — is driving prices to stratospheric levels that are completely beyond the purchasing power of islanders, making finding a home an impossible mission for thousands upon thousands of Canary Islanders.

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