Spanish election: How bad is the housing crisis?

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Spain will grind to a halt in its first general strike in 14 years on Wednesday, just weeks before voters head to the polls in a snap election. At the center of both the strike and vote, one issue looms especially large: unaffordable housing.

Anger over the crisis boiled over in September, following the eviction of an elderly woman from the Madrid home in which she had lived since 1956. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in nationwide protests, prompting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to submit a long-delayed housing bill to the Spanish parliament. When lawmakers rejected the legislation, he decided to send voters to the polls. 

“Every generation has its struggle,” Sánchez said during a rally shortly after calling the snap vote. “Ours is housing, and we will solve it, backed by the strength of the people.”

“We must look upwards at those in the penthouses and those who run vulture funds and put an end to their speculative practices and abuses,” he added, calling for voters to unite to protect “small property owners and tenants.”

It is no wonder Sánchez has attempted to seize on the topic of housing in a bid to be reelected. The high price of homes is at the forefront of voters’ minds: the most recent data shows house prices are double what they were at the same time in 2015; the average Spaniard doesn’t leave their parental home until after their 30^th birthday; and in some historic centers tourist accommodation accounts for 45% of the rental market.  

His big challenge, however, is that he could end up blamed for the problem exploding during his more than eight years in office. Between 2015 and 2025, average home prices in Spain rose by 80%, while salaries increased by only 30%. A pledge to use “all state resources” to provide 184,000 public and affordable rental homes has been difficult to realize.

And yet, on many metrics, Spain’s housing struggles are not even the worst in Europe. Rising rents and home prices across the bloc are fueling discontent and setting the stage for affordability to become a key issue in a string of elections set for the coming year. 

Here’s everything you need to know:  

Between 2015 and 2025, house prices in Spain rose 80%, according to Eurostat’s house price index. The first half of 2026 made this figure even starker: by the second quarter of this year, prices were around double what they were at the same time in 2015. 

Rents have also risen across the country, with urban regions and tourist hotspots seeing some of the biggest rent hikes over the past 10 years. 

Academics trace the roots of Spain’s housing crisis to the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis: while ordinary homebuyers struggled to get mortgages, large-scale investors began buying up property, speculating and driving up prices.  

“The cash didn’t disappear from the market; it just ended up in the hands of investors,” said Spanish National Research Council housing expert Javier Gil. “What we see in Spain is a new cycle led by speculative, non-residential demand.”

Combine that with growing populations in major cities, social housing stock issues, and tourist housing, which the national bank estimates accounts for about 10% of the already small rental market, and Spaniards really feel the pinch.  

Young people make up one of the key groups struggling to find their place in the Spanish housing market. In 2025, 67% of people aged between 18 and 34 still lived with their parents and almost half of the 26-34-year-olds in this position cited the inability to afford to rent or buy as the principal reason for their living situation.  

“The prices just keep rising and rising, and landlords take advantage of the system to take advantage of tenants,” said Jorge Collado, a 26-year-old who took part in a massive protest encampment housing demonstrators set up in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square.  

The university student said he had been forced to move back to his family’s home after his former landlord dramatically raised the monthly rent when he requested a legal rental contract. “We’re fed up with this situation, and the politicians aren’t doing anything to solve this.” 

Although stark, Spain’s house price increases are not even the highest in Europe, Research Director at Housing Europe Alice Pittini warns, pointing to Eastern European countries that have seen “tremendous increases” in recent years. 

Similarly, rents increased in every EU member state between 2025 and the first half of this year. In fact, rent rises across Spain during this period were relatively modest compared with most other EU countries, when national averages are considered.  

While Sánchez has bet his career on converting public anger over housing into votes for his party, it will be a difficult sell given the price rises during his time in office. 

“Changes in housing policy have the tendency to see the impact of the policies […] much, much later. So it’s something that I think is always a tricky field for politicians,” Pittini points out.  

Given that the housing problem is plaguing various other European countries and has already taken center stage in local elections in Berlin and national elections in the Netherlands, it seems set to remain at the top of the agenda as many Europeans prepare to go to the polls next year.