Spain: The Spanish government is pursuing a national crackdown on short-term rental listings amid backlash from local citizens across the country who feel like they are being priced out of the housing market and calls for further regulation by regional governments.
Earlier this week, Spanish consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy confirmed in a TV interview that the government would investigate listings on online travel agencies including Airbnb and Booking.com to verify if the properties are fully licensed.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party [PSOE] announced that the government will create a registry of holiday rental properties in order to limit the number of listings and to increase long-term housing supply. The registry is expected to come into effect no earlier than by the end of 2025.
Across Spain, governments and councils are announcing stronger legislative measures targeting short-term rental listings.
In Seville, the city council has requested the removal of 715 holiday rental apartment listings from OTAs, both in the historic centre and the Triana neighbourhood. In doing so, Seville has become the first city in Spain to use new legislation that enables town halls to remove holiday rental listings that do not meet the regulations.
In Barcelona, leftist mayor Jaume Collboni last month announced a plan to introduce a ban on all short-term rentals for tourists in the city by late 2028. From November 2028, Barcelona will no longer give new licences and revoke existing ones that allow apartment owners to rent out their accommodation to tourists.
Collboni said that the measure would mark a “turning point” for Barcelona as the city government seeks to increase housing supply and address the shortage in affordable housing for citizens, as well as “skyrocketing rental prices that are becoming more expensive every day”.
Other cities in mainland Spain and the Spanish islands have recently made headlines too for their stances on holiday rentals and perceived “mass tourism”.
In April, Madrid City Council announced a temporary suspension on granting new holiday rental licences in the capital with immediate effect – a suspension which is set to hold until 2025.
In a press briefing, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the mayor of Madrid, said that the suspension would take place “with immediate effect”, while the city works on the approval of a modification to the General Plan of Urban Development of Madrid, which is being led by Borja Carabante, Madrid City Council’s delegate for Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility.
The goal of the General Plan is to “confront” issues around housing in Madrid, while at the same time “balancing the accommodation market in the city” to avoid “residential desertification”.
Protests have also been held in the Canary Islands and Malaga [in Andalusia] against the perceived proliferation of holiday rentals.
