Can Chinese 'capsule homes' help ease Spain's housing crisis?

Imagine a smart, fully integrated home with a jacuzzi for less than 90 thousand U.S. dollars.

That's the vision that one Spanish company is aiming to import from China as a global crisis pushes innovation and alternative solutions into the spotlight.

As housing costs continue to rise across Europe and much of the world, a growing number of people in major cities are now spending between 40 and 50 percent of their income on rent. In Spain, that figure is often even higher.

The pressure has turned housing affordability into one of the country's most urgent social and political challenges and while governments struggle to rein in prices and boost supply one small Spanish company believes part of the answer may lie in an unexpected place: Chinese 'capsule homes'.

Caslua Imports, founded by Spanish hoteliers Beatriz Castro and Antonio Luaña, is importing these modular mobile homes manufactured in China. They are compact, factory-built housing units designed to be installed in a matter of months.

Castro and Luaña were originally looking for prefabricated cabins to develop a small tourism project on their own land, but a visit to China changed everything.

"Our mind was blown," Castro says. "We began asking ourselves why this wasn't available in Spain."

'We just loved them' - Smart homes built to last

At factories in China, the pair encountered homes built with aeronautical aluminum and galvanised steel, designed to last decades and backed by long-term guarantees. 

The houses are modular, meaning they can be expanded or combined depending on need, and come equipped with smart technology that allows residents to control lighting, climate and even curtains through voice commands or a mobile app.

"The quality, the materials, the durability, the design, it was completely different from anything we had seen," Luaña says. "We just loved them."

When the first unit was installed in Pontevedra, in northern Spain, it quickly attracted attention from Spanish media and the public. Its arrival coincided with a period of growing frustration over housing costs, particularly among younger generations locked out of both ownership and affordable renting.

According to government data, house prices and rents in Spain's major cities, including Madrid and Barcelona, have more than doubled over the past decade. Rental prices alone have risen by as much as 80 to 90 percent in some urban areas, and prices are forecast to rise by a further seven percent this year.

Society divided between 'rich owners and poor tenants'

The issue has also taken centre stage politically. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has repeatedly warned that the crisis risks creating what he describes as a society divided between "rich owners and poor tenants."

Speaking in Madrid, Sánchez said Spain and Europe must act. "We need to make funds available for the construction of social housing, put mechanisms in place to curb speculation in housing purchases for non-residential use, and ensure we have European-level mechanisms to deal with pressure in large cities," he said.

The Spanish government has already introduced rent caps, tightened regulations on short-term rentals and rolled out subsidies for young renters. It is also pushing forward on increased public housing construction and has proposed higher taxes on property purchases by non-EU citizens in an effort to curb speculation.

So far, however, those measures have failed to reverse the upward trend in prices, and criticism is mounting as Sanchez has been Prime Minister for more than seven years now.

And that has opened space for alternative housing models to enter the debate. Supporters of modular construction argue that factory-built homes could help increase supply more quickly than traditional building methods, while keeping costs lower.

"We firmly believe in our product," Castro says. "But we also know it's just one possible solution among many here in Spain and in other countries facing the same challenges."

Caslua says it is already receiving inquiries from across Europe and Latin America, suggesting growing interest in alternative construction at a time when housing shortages are becoming a global concern.

Entry level units start at around 40,000 dollars. 

Whether capsule homes will play a meaningful role in easing Spain's housing crisis remains uncertain, however, and their impact is likely to depend not just on technology and cost, but on planning regulations, land availability and political willingness to embrace new housing models.

What is clear is that as affordability pressures intensify, governments, developers and citizens alike are increasingly looking beyond traditional solutions.