Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Spain to protest soaring rents, evictions and the worsening shortage of affordable housing, piling fresh pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after his minority government suffered a major defeat over emergency housing measures in Congress.
Around 50 demonstrations were held on Saturday in cities including Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, with protesters demanding stronger protections for tenants, lower rents, an end to evictions and restrictions on investment funds accused of driving up property prices.
“There is a lot of anger in the streets,” a spokesperson for the Valencia Tenants’ Union said as demonstrations intensified across the country.
Madrid witnessed one of the largest rallies, with the city’s Tenants’ Union claiming that about 500,000 people participated, although municipal authorities estimated the crowd at roughly 70,000.
Demonstrators marched through the capital carrying banners declaring, “There won’t be peace for rentism” and “I study to have a future, not to have a tiny apartment.” Many protesters also shook keys and chanted, “We have the keys of all the city.”
Some protesters had camped for several days at Puerta del Sol, one of Madrid’s main public squares, as anger over the cost of housing continued to spread.
The protests were partly fuelled by the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her home last month after she was unable to afford a steep rent increase. The case triggered widespread outrage and became a symbol of Spain’s growing housing crisis.
Although the company that owns her apartment, Urbagestión, later negotiated her return at a reduced rent, the controversy has continued to drive demonstrations and demands for sweeping housing reforms.
The crisis has also produced scenes of confrontation in Valencia, where some protesters clashed with police near the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, which was hosting a real estate summit. Protesters reportedly removed barriers and threw objects at officers, who responded with rubber bullets. Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported that nine police officers were injured and five people arrested.
In Madrid, police also arrested three members of a far-right group who allegedly attempted to approach protesters, with some reportedly performing Nazi salutes.
The demonstrations came just a day after Sánchez’s left-wing coalition suffered a parliamentary defeat over two emergency housing decrees designed to ease the crisis. The measures included suspending evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, extending certain rental agreements, increasing taxes on tourist apartments and restricting property purchases by so-called “vulture funds”.
A second decree proposed automatic renewal of rental contracts, one of the key demands of housing campaigners and tenant organisations.
Both measures were rejected by Congress. The first was defeated by 178 votes to 172, while the second failed by 184 votes to 166.
The defeat has intensified pressure on Sánchez, whose Socialist-led coalition government does not hold a parliamentary majority and relies on support from smaller regional and nationalist parties to pass legislation. It has also fuelled speculation that the prime minister could call an early general election, months before the vote is officially due.
The conservative People’s Party and far-right Vox opposed the measures, while centre-right pro-independence party Together for Catalonia also moved against the legislation, leaving the government unable to secure enough votes.
Housing campaigners have condemned the parliamentary defeat as a further blow to struggling tenants. Madrid’s Tenants’ Union said the rejection would worsen a crisis that is already placing severe pressure on working-class families and has called for a general strike over housing.
The scale of the protests reflects the depth of Spain’s housing shortage. The Bank of Spain estimates that the country needs about 700,000 additional homes to close the gap between demand and new construction.
Official figures show that house prices rose by 12.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2026 compared with a year earlier, while rental costs increased by 8.5 per cent in 2025, according to property firm Idealista.
Madrid and Barcelona remain the country’s most expensive rental markets, with average rents reaching about €22.70 and €23.80 per square metre respectively.
With rents continuing to rise, housing supply failing to keep pace with demand and Sánchez’s government struggling to push reforms through parliament, Spain’s housing crisis is rapidly becoming not only an economic emergency but a major political challenge for the prime minister.
