RICS responds to EU call for evidence on Housing Supply and Affordability

RICS has submitted its response to the European Commission's call for evidence on Housing Supply and Affordability (Regulatory Simplification), contributing practical recommendations on how to reduce barriers to housing delivery while maintaining essential consumer, environmental and financial safeguards.

Drawing on the expertise of RICS professionals across Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Spain, the response highlights that many of the challenges affecting housing delivery stem not from EU legislation itself but from national and local implementation. Members identified key obstacles, including lengthy planning and permitting processes, regulatory uncertainty, fragmented administrative procedures and inconsistent policy frameworks.

RICS further highlighted the role of professional standards, including the International Cost Management Standard (ICMS) and RICS' New rules of measurement (NRM), in improving transparency, consistency and confidence in housing development and financing decisions.

The response supports the European Commission's objective of simplifying regulatory frameworks to accelerate housing delivery, reduce unnecessary costs and delays, and improve affordability across Europe without weakening important safeguards. RICS looks forward to continuing its engagement with European policymakers and contributing the expertise of its members throughout this process.

We would like to thank the following members for their invaluable contributions in ensuring that the response reflects practical experience from housing, valuation, construction and real estate markets across Europe: Banai Ádám, Panagiotis-Peter Giannakis, Bruno Matos, Pedro Mestre, José Riscado, Kayla Smith (student), Ricardo Sousa, Alfonso Valero and João Nuno.

Link to our response: Feedback from: RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors).

For more information, please contact Valeria Sepe vsepe@rics.org or Gina Ding gding@rics.org.