What has the Spanish government done?<\/b><\/p>\n
It has told holiday accommodation platform Airbnb<\/a> that its Irish subsidiary, which manages much of its European<\/a> operations, must take nearly 66,000 of the company\u2019s apartment listings off the market. <\/p>\n Pablo Bustinduy, minister for consumer affairs, said that the properties, in six different regions of Spain<\/a>, all breached regulations for tourist accommodation. Some, for example, did not list a licence number, while other listings did not show whether the owner was a private individual or a business. <\/p>\n A Madrid court has backed the Spanish government\u2019s request for the immediate withdrawal of about 5,000 of those properties, with the remainder still pending further judicial rulings. Bustinduy celebrated the court\u2019s backing, saying that \u201cno company, however big or powerful, is above the law\u201d.<\/p>\n Is tourist accommodation the real issue here?<\/b><\/p>\n Yes and no. Spain has suffered a severe housing crisis caused by a sharp increase in rental costs in recent years \u2013 the average rent has doubled over the past decade. There are a number of causes, such as a lack of social housing and red tape slowing down the construction of new homes. But as the number of foreign visitors to Spain each year approaches 100 million, many see tourist<\/a> apartments as a major culprit, particularly in city centres where they push prices up and drive local people away. In some tourist destinations the problem has become extremely acute; in one area of central M\u00e1laga, for example, more than 80 per cent of homes are short-term tourist flats.<\/p>\n What was Spain\u2019s relationship with Airbnb before this latest announcement?<\/b><\/p>\n