Following the approval of Decree Law 1/2016 of 12 January on the amendments of the Plan of Urban Development in the Balearic Islands we have know that last year there was a significant increase in cases of legalization on rural land in the Balearic Islands.

This increase of 243%, is attached to a budget increase of more than 291%, according to data provided by the College of Architects of the Balearic Islands. The report makes clear that 90% of cases has arisen from the tenth transient disposal of the land law that allowed the legalization of constructions on rural land for a period of three years disposal. In 2015 passed from the illegality to the law 1,665 buildings, about 205.9 million euros.

The remaining percentage corresponds to the usual procedures of legalization of buildings, increasing the number of initialed works in the Balearic Islands 43.6% compared to 2014, with most of them in Mallorca. In 2015, housing construction represents 80% of the building activity, an increase of 16% of the projects. These data indicate that the construction business is beginning to grow strongly.

This fact is largely driven by the works of the tourism sector, which increased by 76% in 2015, from 109 million in 2014 move to 192 in 2015 in Mallorca. The projects which endorsed the College of Architects amounted to 971 million in one year, an increase of 49% over 2014, the report of the College of Architects. This progress is particularly striking in the tourist industry, both in Mallorca and the rest of the islands. In the Majorcan case, most of the money comes from the classic hotel companies, which rose from works worth 89 million in 2014 to mobilize 172.7 million in 2015. It also happened gradually in the interior hotels where construction injected 1.9 million euros. In the same way, it keeps rising the return on investment in luxury houses in Mallorca being more than 70% of the properties projected in 2015 luxury projects.

Please contact Ripoll & Mateu Solicitors Mallorca if you want to build a house in Mallorca and needs information about the current situation on urban planning regulations of the Balearic Islands.