Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hopes his country’s dire housing crisis has become so bad that it overshadows the other challenges Spain faces. Nationwide protests over skyrocketing rents and real estate speculation have rocked Spain in recent weeks, prompting the Socialist leader to call snap elections for Nov. 29 on Monday. Sánchez, who is under pressure over the ongoing migrant crisis in Ceuta, as well as corruption cases involving members of his family and close political allies, is aiming to capitalize on popular discontent over housing to pull off a long-shot reelection — while portraying Spain’s conservative opposition as an obstacle to solving the problem.
But critics have questioned the wisdom of the prime minister casting himself as a champion of housing rights when his time in power has coincided with a deepening of the current crisis. Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Spanish Tenants’ Union, which has spearheaded the housing protests, said Sánchez had “no track record to boast about” and called his Socialist Party “a party of landlords.” “We’re done with these politicians,” she added. Spain’s housing crisis is rooted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, when banks sharply restricted mortgage lending to ordinary families.
The scale of the crisis is stark. Between 2015 and 2025, average home prices in Spain rose by 80% and rents shot up by 87%, while salaries increased by only 30%. The price hikes have been particularly punishing for young Spaniards.
According to the latest figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute, 69% of Spaniards aged 18 to 34 live with their parents — a rate surpassed only by young people in Croatia. The same tourism boom that resulted in generated €200.7 billion in 2024, equivalent to 12.6% of GDP, has drawn real estate investors to major cities and tourist destinations. Although Sánchez’s government has taken steps to rein in the short-term rental market, the number of nights spent in tourist apartments has doubled since he took office in 2018.
Population growth has added pressure in major urban centers. Spain has gained more than 3 million residents since 2015, including 793,000 in Madrid, 556,000 in Barcelona and 279,000 in Valencia — all cities where housing costs have risen sharply. Sánchez has not been blind to the crisis, calling housing the country’s “great constitutional challenge.” In 2023, he pledged to use “all state resources” to provide 184,000 public and affordable rental homes.
But when the government last provided a detailed accounting of the effort, in August 2024, it said only 14,000 homes had been “made available to citizens” through a social scheme. Some 60,000 other properties were reported to be in various stages of development. The recent rollout of the government’s new housing portal, CASA47, was similarly underwhelming.
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