Housing: The Rentism Destroying a Generation's Future

Real Estate Rentism: Who Wins and Who Pays with Housing

There is a date that, according to one participant, explains the housing business in Spain better than any speech: 1985. That year, according to their account, Felipe González's government abolished the old rent law and the lifelong frozen rents. Four decades later, they maintain, an entire generation has been left out. Another user summarizes the paradox: real estate overvaluation ruins those who haven't bought yet, but a very large part of the population—owners, heirs, landlords—expects to profit from it.

The PSOE Abstention Denounced by a Participant

The trigger for the discontent, according to one participant, is a specific vote: the one intended to prevent vulture funds from continuing to buy housing for purely speculative purposes, and in which, according to their version, the PSOE chose to abstain. The prevailing diagnosis is stark: the problem is not a matter of parties, but of national sovereignty and social survival. While the future of young people and working families is shattered by the impossibility of accessing a home, the political class engages in shell games.

Why No One Dares to Burst the Bubble

The obstacle is not technical, but electoral, according to a participant. A very large part of the population has expectations of benefiting from the overvaluation: those who already own see their assets grow, those who expect to inherit calculate with the revaluation, and those who rent out an apartment collect the rent. Bursting the bubble, they add, would be ruining that majority. The balance, therefore, is perverse: overvaluation destroys access to housing and, at the same time, sustains the expectations of thousands of households. No one gives up their expectations.

Migrants, Tourism, and the Demand That No One Wants to Debate

Some argue that opposing the speculative model also means opposing mass tourism and the arrival of foreign population, and that this is barely discussed. In the tally being considered, there are 500,000 migrants per year, a figure that some readily increase. The debate points to this demographic pressure as part of the problem; whether it is the sole cause of the collapse in access is another matter.

From Mortgage Payments to the Relationship That No Longer Exists

An unexpected consequence: one participant maintains that if housing used to be paid for by couples over thirty years, the fragmentation of stable relationships favors the landlord. More fragile households, more difficult mortgages, more rental demand, and rising prices, according to their analysis. It is argued that the impossibility of finding a partner breaks the dream of a home as much as the price does. A bold thesis, an old discussion, a convenient excuse to avoid talking about land.

If the housing business enriches some and expels others, and the political system, according to a participant, prefers to abstain rather than legislate, how many generations will have to be sacrificed before it stops being a business?