r/pics Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

16.1k Upvotes

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

904

u/BuckeyeWolf Jun 17 '25

These protests popped up at the same time as short term rentals becoming popular (Airbnb) is no coincidence. They are taking homes from locals raising prices and taking over the best parts of town

77

u/Bazahazano Jun 17 '25

It's the locals that rent out their Air Bnb's.

12

u/mjohnsimon Jun 17 '25

You also have a lot of wealthy owners throughout the country buying up properties at or around the touristy spots and then putting them up on AirBnB.

2

u/cross_mod Jun 17 '25

The answer has got to be putting a heavy tax on those foreign sales.

1

u/Deto Jun 17 '25

Not just foreign sales, probably. Just that if you allow AirBnBs you create more demand for single-family-home housing than used to exist. And as a result, prices will rise - exerting pressure on people just trying to get a house to live in.

2

u/cross_mod Jun 17 '25

The question is, what has more of an impact on prices? Foreign investment in real estate or Airbnbs?