The escalation in migratory pressure registered in Ceuta has ultimately triggered a major shake-up in the autonomous city's real estate sector. The fear of a prolonged cross-border crisis and the feeling of insecurity have pushed many residents to rush to sell their homes with price reductions, as well as new owners to put their properties up for sale, causing an unprecedented spike in supply and a consequent drastic drop in asking prices.

Colleagues in the Ceuta real estate sector confirm the anxiety felt by numerous owners and their willingness to sell as soon as possible, even at the cost of a reduction in the sale price. The seller profile largely corresponds to resident families who have a second home on the mainland and have decided to accelerate their permanent relocation.

Parallel to this adjustment in the free market selling prices, there has also been a group of owners who have taken advantage of the migrants' need, going as far as renting out storage rooms and garages for the newcomers to sleep in. So much so, that the Regional Ministry of Housing has launched a massive inspection campaign on the Social Housing (VPO) stock after detecting that some beneficiaries were illegally profiting from their protected properties. The investigations uncovered violations of the allocation conditions, where up to 500 euros a week was being charged for the subletting of storage rooms, garages or rooms to newly arrived people in an irregular situation.

The regional executive has already begun to notify the first suspensions of allocation contracts and has pointed out that the fraudulent use of public land or property carries disciplinary proceedings with fines of up to 6,000 euros and the immediate repossession of the property. The combination of private oversupply and the crackdown on social housing fraud places the Ceuta real estate market in one of its most strained and complex moments of recent years.