Developers Urge Land Reform and PowerCo-Style Expropriations to Ease Housing Crisis
At the 10th AIRE Congress in Valencia, real-estate developers called for revising the Huerta farmland protection law and using targeted expropriations to unlock land for housing, citing the precedent set at Parc Sagunt for PowerCo's battery gigafactory.
Soaring prices and a shortage of build-ready land dominated debate at the 10th AIRE Congress 2026, where developers and consultants proposed urgent measures to boost housing supply across Valencia and its metropolitan area.
Key proposals included amending the Ley de la Huerta — a regional law that protects agricultural land around Valencia — to exclude abandoned or degraded plots, and using site-specific expropriations to free up large tracts quickly. Speakers pointed to Parc Sagunt (one of Europe's largest business parks, with over 700,000 m² of industrial and logistics land managed by a Valencian Government-linked body) as proof that public administrations can move fast when there is political will.
The Huerta covers 631.9 km² across 44 municipalities and was recognised in 2019 by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, highlighting the political sensitivity of any reform.
Participants also called for integrated metropolitan planning through joint consortia of local councils, the regional government and private developers, targeting between 10,000 and 15,000 new homes. Bureaucratic delays — licences and procedures that can stall projects for six or seven years — were also criticised. According to valenciaplaza.com.