The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of Housing under Controlled Prices (HCP) within the framework of the Housing Plans of the Spanish Government during the period 1992- 1999. HCP gave low income families the possibility to choose between new or existing housing by trading off characteristics (like price, area and location) according to their preferences. These tradeoffs and their relationship to the preferences of the families are the subject of our study. We find that the price of the housing is the most important factor followed by the family size and the total area of the dwelling. Finally we document the differences in the profiles of families choosing existing as opposed to new housing.