Thousands protest across Spain against housing shortage

The organisers called for an end to property speculation, more social housing, restrictions on converting housing to holiday accommodation, rent reductions and expropriations.

According to media reports, 150,000 protesters turned out in the capital Madrid.

For years, too little housing has been built in Spain as rents have risen sharply.

The consequences of mass and luxury tourism have caused anger, especially in holiday centres like Mallorca, Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga and Madrid.

The housing crisis has hit particularly hard in Spain, where there is a strong tradition of home ownership and scant public housing for rent.

Rents have been driven up by increased demand. Buying a home has become unaffordable for many, with market pressures and speculation driving up prices, especially in big cities and coastal areas.

A generation of young people say they have to stay with their parents or spend big just to share an apartment, with little chance of saving enough to one day purchase a home.

High housing costs mean even those with traditionally well-paying jobs are struggling to make ends meet.

Incomes have failed to keep up despite Spain's recent economic boom, especially for younger people in a country with chronically high unemployment.

Spain does not have the public housing that other European nations have invested in to cushion struggling renters from a market that is pricing them out.

Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said on X that "I share the demand of the numerous people who have marched today: that homes are for living in and not for speculating".

While tourist numbers continue to break records in Spain, residents on low incomes are unable to afford rents.

According to the real estate agency Fotocasa, rents on the Balearic Islands, which include Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, have risen by 158 per cent in the last 10 years.

with AP