{"id":323733,"date":"2025-08-06T23:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/323733\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T23:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:26:13","slug":"spains-housing-crisis-deepens-residents-anger-is-rising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/323733\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s housing crisis deepens: residents\u2019 anger is rising"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Since 2010, housing prices in the European Union have surged by over 50% on average, while rents have climbed by 26%. Spain is among the hardest-hit nations, with rents increasing by up to 80% in the past decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a crisis caused by a cocktail of scarce housing supply, inflated construction costs, the boom in short-term rentals, and foreign investor speculation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarcelona is a city full of tourists. Rents are extortionate,\u201d says Rosario Castell\u00f3, a longtime resident and member of the tenants\u2019 union, Sindicat de Llogateres.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She faces eviction after her apartment block was purchased by Vandor Group, a subsidiary of British investment fund Patron Capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived in my flat for 26 years,\u201d explains Rosario. \u201cIt\u2019s where I raised my children, and where I have my clothing brand Pinku No Kuma<\/a>,\u201d she says showing the dresses she designs with her daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Vandor wants to take my house away from me, along with everything I\u2019ve achieved here,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Rosario is the last of the building\u2019s former tenants. All the other flats were turned into co-living spaces, rented to foreigners on short term leases.<\/p>\n

\u201cVulture funds are massively buying entire buildings for speculation. And they\u2019re throwing us all out,\u201d storms Castell\u00f3. \u201cIt must stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her lease having expired, she refuses to leave and is in legal proceedings with the owner to which she still pays rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey offered me a small fee to get me out,\u201d she explains, \u201cbut rental prices are extortionate. I have nowhere to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across Barcelona, residents like Rosario are banding together. Supported by the Sindicat de Llogateres, they are fighting to avoid evictions and pressure public authorities to intervene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a total lack of protection for the right to housing,\u201d exclaims Martina Ges Torra, another member of the tenants\u2019 union. \u201cWe will collectively defend this right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spanish government is trying to curb the crisis. Measures include plans to remove 65,000 Airbnb listings, increase taxes on property purchases by non-EU nationals, and enforce rental caps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have started to regulate the rise in rental prices,\u201d says Barcelona\u2019s Mayor, Jaume Collboni, noting an 8% price drop in Barcelona.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another sweeping measure will eliminate all Airbnb apartments in the city by 2028, returning 10,000 homes to residential use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in Catalonia, short-term rentals will be subject to the same price cap,\u201d adds the mayor. \u201cThis means a huge drop in profitability for investment funds \u2013 it\u2019s a deterrent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaume Collboni is leading the \u2018Mayors for Housing Alliance\u2019 initiative, involving 15 major European cities. They have presented the EU with a\u00a0European Housing Action Plan<\/a>\u00a0 urging Brussels to invest in affordable housing and exempt such spending from the limitations of state aid rules.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe European Commission must act,\u201d insists Collboni.\u00a0 \u201cIf citizens see that European institutions aren\u2019t addressing a problem of such magnitude, it could trigger a crisis of legitimacy,\u201d he says, concluding: \u201cIt\u2019s not just a social issue. The future of the European project, and of democracy itself, are also at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADVERTISEMENT Since 2010, housing prices in the European Union have surged by over 50% on average, while rents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[199,2000,299,6791,476,104,114173,5006],"class_list":{"0":"post-323733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-housing-market","12":"tag-inflation","13":"tag-spain","14":"tag-speculation","15":"tag-tourism"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114984411975315327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}