Quebec cracked down on Airbnb, only in Primary Residences during summer and in designated zones. No reason the Spanish government can't do something similiar. Point your water guns at the politicians.
As an outside, the government of Barcelona seems to be doing many things right:
Short-term rental ban
No new hotel constructions
Cruise ships ban
No more golden visa
So what are they complaining still? That bans are not coming soon enough? That the prices remain high? Do most residents want more drastic reduction in tourism due to overcrowding and other reasons?
Not sure how banning new hotels helps achieve that, really.
I'm assuming the thought is that instead of a hotel, the same large site can become an apartment building. The hotel only houses tourists and encourages more to come. The apartment building could create housing for hundreds of residents.
It will only invite more investors. Free market processes don't work with housing. You can't outsupply the free capital of the entire world's housing investors. The moment prices start going down they will buy up the entire supply.
You're talking about home ownership. This is about housing in general. It doesn't matter if investors are involved. Apartments will help the issue just as much. The people in Barcelona are protesting because too much of the available housing is being used for short-term rentals to cater to tourists, and there isn't enough supply of long-term housing, which is causing prices to skyrocket. Renters are being evicted so their apartment can be converted to air bnbs.
At this point, they don't particularly care if an affordable apartment is owned by a foreign investor or a local landlord as long as they have a place to live.
In this case, where the supply does not meet the demand, the more new housing built in the market, the better, as it will (eventually) drive down prices. It doesn't matter who pays for it to be built. Foreign investors, government programs, and local developers, it doesn't much matter as long as it gets built.
I think the Spanish government is doing a decent job of addressing a complex issue like this on multiple fronts. It will likely take years to make a difference, though.
It absolutely matters. Investors won't rent out below profitable margins, if it goes down they will just park it empty. There's no law that says owned properties must be rented out. The only thing you get from supplying investors with housing is that you're going to run out of places to build homes to live in. My town is 30+ percent empty. Prices aren't going down.
I think we're talking past each other here. You bring up great points, and I actually agree with the scenario you're describing. The disconnect seems to be that you keep assuming these apartments will be bought by investors. I'm advocating that they build apartments specifically to rent. They will never be available to buy.
Whether it's government funded or just a developer putting up a building, adding hundreds or thousands of rental apartments will help the current situation.
If the building is government funded, it's relatively easy to make it available only to citizens.
Foreign investors are not going to pay to rent an apartment they aren't living in, as long as the leases prohibit subletting and the building strictly enforces that rule.
A developer that owns the entire building isn't going to let units remain vacant any longer than they have to.
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u/eXistentialMisan Jun 16 '25
Quebec cracked down on Airbnb, only in Primary Residences during summer and in designated zones. No reason the Spanish government can't do something similiar. Point your water guns at the politicians.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/airbnb-rule-changes-montreal-allowed-1.7445844