CNN
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Barcelona, a prime Spanish vacation vacation spot, introduced on Friday that it’s going to bar condo leases to vacationers by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic transfer because it seeks to rein in hovering housing prices and make town habitable for residents.
Town’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, stated that by November 2028, Barcelona will scrap the licenses of the ten,101 residences at present accepted as short-term leases.
“We’re confronting what we imagine is Barcelona’s largest drawback,” Collboni instructed a metropolis authorities occasion.
The growth in short-term leases in Barcelona, Spain’s most visited metropolis by overseas vacationers, means some residents can not afford an condo after rents rose 68% prior to now 10 years and the price of shopping for a home rose by 38%, Collboni stated. Entry to housing has grow to be a driver of inequality, notably for younger folks, he added.
Nationwide governments relish the financial advantages of tourism – Spain ranks among the many top-three most visited nations on the earth – however with native residents priced out in some locations, gentrification and proprietor desire for profitable vacationer leases are more and more a sizzling matter throughout Europe.
Native governments have introduced restrictions on short-term leases in locations equivalent to Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin prior to now decade.
Spain’s Socialist housing minister, Isabel Rodriguez, stated she supported Barcelona’s resolution.
“It’s about making all the mandatory efforts to ensure entry to inexpensive housing,” she posted on X.
Trip leases platform Airbnb, which hosts a big variety of Barcelona listings, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
“Collboni is making a mistake that may result in (larger) poverty and unemployment,” Barcelona’s vacationer residences affiliation APARTUR stated in a press release, including the ban would set off an increase in unlawful vacationer residences.
Resorts stand to learn from the transfer. The opening of recent lodges within the metropolis’s hottest areas was banned by a far-left occasion governing Barcelona between 2015 and 2023, however Collboni has signaled he might calm down the restriction.
Barcelona’s resort affiliation declined to touch upon Friday’s announcement.
“These 10,000 residences shall be utilized by town’s residents or will go available on the market for lease or sale,” Collboni stated of the measure.
Barcelona’s native authorities stated in a press release it could keep its “robust” inspection regime to detect potential unlawful vacationer residences as soon as the ban comes into pressure.
No new vacationer residences have been allowed within the metropolis lately. The native authorities has ordered the shutting of 9,700 unlawful vacationer residences since 2016 and shut to three,500 residences have been recovered for use as main housing for native residents, it stated.