“Today a new political cycle begins regarding housing,” Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for the Catalan Tenants' Union (Sindicat de Llogateres), the main organization behind this gathering, assured journalists. “It is not possible for investors to come to our cities and play with apartments like Monopoly,” she continued. “Today, we have come to say that it is over”, especially to the “rentiers” who are stealing half of our salaries”.
The demonstrators are therefore demanding a reduction in rents of around 50%, the establishment of indefinite rental contracts and a ban on speculative housing sales. Otherwise, they threaten a “rent strike”.
Exploding rents
This demonstration echoes that organized on October 13 in Madrid, which brought together at least 22,000 people with similar slogans, in a context of strong tension in all major Spanish cities in the face of soaring rents. According to the real estate portal Idealista, the price of a square meter of rental has jumped 82% in the country over the last ten years, a rate five times higher than that of the average salary, which has increased by 17%, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
