Valencia plans more housing protests as prices keep rising
Housing advocacy groups in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia are preparing a series of demonstrations in the upcoming weeks to protest the lack of measures to curb rising rents and house prices.
Valencian residents are planning to hit back at skyrocketing rental costs with more protests, following similar demos in 2024 where the focus was also on overtourism.
The organisations are already preparing a schedule for the marches, along with a series of proposals they want to present to the local Valencian government.
They denounce the fact that the increase in prices is preventing young people and many families from accessing decent housing in Spain's third most populous city.
READ ALSO: Is there a solution to Spain's housing crisis? Here's what the experts say
José Luis González-Meseguer, spokesperson for the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages in Valencia, confirmed in a statement to Radio Valencia that they are already preparing a public event with neighbourhood associations and organisations called "València no està en venda" (Valencia is not for sale) to bring awareness to the issue and to try and force the government to take effective measures to address the housing crisis.
According to the Housing Observatory of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the average rental price in the city of Valencia is €1,633. This is 75 percent more expensive than in 2019 and prices are not stopping there.
The average price for a second-hand flat in the Mediterranean city is now over €300,000 on average, according to data from Idealista.
According to the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, evictions continue to occur every day in Valencia with more than 500 in the first quarter of the year alone.
They, along with the Valencia Neighbourhood Federation and the Valencia Youth Council, have called on the City Council to declare Valencia a 'stressed zone' in order to force rent caps.
READ ALSO: Foreign investment funds snap up half-price flats in Spain's Valencia
A 'stressed zone' is defined as one where there is a high risk of insufficient housing supply for its population. In order to be declared as such, it must meet one of two pieces of criteria – the average cost of rent or mortgage for homes plus related expenses exceeds 30 percent of the average salary of the population in the area or if in the previous five years the purchase or rental price has experienced an accumulated increase of three points above the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
If this happens, Valencian landlords will have to adhere to rent caps and strict rules on rental contracts.
READ ALSO: What happens when a city in Spain is declared a ‘stressed’ rental zone?
Official data from Spain's Ministry of Housing showed that in Barcelona, one of the first areas to be declared a stressed zone, rents they fell by 6.4 percent in 2024.
According to property portal Idealista, however, this hasn’t helped property prices in Barcelona, which have still increased by 10.4 percent in the last year.
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