The push to tighten regulations regarding Airbnbs and other tourist rental properties continues to march forward. An October 23, 2024 article in El Pais noted that Málaga city council had moved for the second time in less than six months on this front.
Back in June, Malaga city council introduced more stringent regulations for tourist apartments and began limiting the granting of licenses. These regulations were back-dated to the date on which the Junta – the regional government – passed the new law granting municipalities the right to set their own tourist rental license policies. Since that June law, the council has requested the cancelation of around 1,500 licenses.
With demonstrations and popular anxiety continuing around the cost of housing in Spanish cities – particularly in tourist-heavy areas – this is an issue that is not going to go away. Just a few days earlier there was a demonstration in Valencia on the issue, which organizers estimated at 50,000 people.
It’s obvious that the government in Málaga realized that their June proposals were not satisfying the locals either. They felt pressure to go further. In Sevilla, a week earlier, the city council passed a similar law to the new edict in Málaga. However, local neighbourhood associations remain angry that it doesn’t go far enough.
With 72% of the Málaga population expressing the feeling that tourism is having a negative impact on the city, the city council has frozen granting any more licenses in 43 neighbourhoods. These are all neighbourhoods where 8% or more of the housing stock has been turned into tourist apartments. In Sevilla the mix of tourist to residential housing has been capped at 10%.
That this isn’t the end of this process of tightening has been made clear by Carmen Casero, the Councilor for Urban Planning in Málaga. “In them (neighbourhoods with more than 8% tourist rental properties) we will not allow even one more house.”
The plan is to incorporate forensic analysis of the housing situation in neighbourhoods as a regular feature. The mayor of Málaga also stated that there is a plan to build 3,000 protected housing units. However, one thousand of those are not even at the planning stages and are a wishlist.
In any case, this is just a drop in the bucket of what Málaga needs. An article in Sur about the findings of a report published by Savills – a real estate consultancy firm – noted that 12,000 new housing units per year are needed for at least the next five years. As the article notes:
This would mean doubling the current rate of private housing construction and quadrupling that of subsidised housing.
The upshot is that these measures look like the city council just trying to get ahead of the popular anger. They are not a solution and will not make a dent in the problem. Unfortunately, when politicians are reactive rather than proactive and forward thinking, nobody wins. One can only hope that they use the breathing room this new regulation provides them to think through real, long terms solutions.
For those who are looking to buy a second home or an income property, these changes are going to cause a pause to rethink location, amongst other decisions. Of course, the association representing tourist apartment owners is outraged. In part, it is because they feel the new regulations were rushed. As noted above, that is likely because they are trying to get ahead of the wave of anger that doesn’t seem to be going away.
For the moment, the vast majority of neighbourhoods will remain open for licensing. Málaga has 417 neighbourhoods, with just 43 having further licensing frozen. And outside of the city center, in waterfront urbanizations built for tourists and as second homes, this will have no effect. It is unlikely that there will be any retroactive removal of licenses already granted by the city, unless they are in violation with the new regulations and don’t bring them into compliance. Anything more aggressive would cause a very big political storm, although Barcelona shows that it is possible.
If someone is considering buying a property, they should keep this possibility in mind. Don’t buy an apartment that you wouldn’t be able to afford if you didn’t have tourist rental income. Looking for a property with the intention of renting it out to tourists at least part of the time?Consider vacation properties in urbanizations outside of the city centre. These are almost exclusively tourists and second homes. The focus of the current anger around affordable housing is exclusively focused on city centres.
View full article in Terra Meridiana