Antich wnats to bring balearic house prices down

Chief Minister Francesc Antich admitted to an interview with the German weekly newspaper Der Spiegel that one of the Balearics' biggest problems is the high cost of housing and property. Antich did claim that “fortunately” prices on the housing market are gradually falling and he said that his government has a responsibility to try and “moderately influence” house prices in order to develop a programme which will enable every citizen to buy a home. The Germans have often been blamed for pushing up property prices, but Antich denied that there is any “xenophobia” in the region, however, he did admit “radicalism exists everywhere and we have to fight against it, but that's not easy.” Antich said another central problem is the region's population capacity and the islands reach saturation point during the summer, however he said that measures being discussed and adopted to try an ease the flow of people in large numbers are not directed at any nationalities in particular. The Chief Minister added that the his government is more concerned about the eleven million people who visit the Balearics every year “because we need to import a lot of labourers” than the number of Germans who live or have properties in the region. Last year in some areas of the island, in particular the luxury Son Vida area, the price of a square metre of land was worth two million pesetas. The government, on the other hand, is busy developing special schemes for first time home buyers in order to help young couples and families enter the Balearics property market - one of the most expensive in Spain.