Hands up who is under 35 and owns a house? Tumbleweed sweeps across the room; crickets chirp in the background. This is because for young people today, home ownership is only getting further out of reach, with many resigning to the fact that they may never be able to buy a property.
This isn’t just overemotional Gen Z-ers whining as they spend too much money on coffees and avocado toast. Statistics reveal that the average property prices in England have risen by 173% (253% in London) since 1997, compared to a real-terms income increase of 19% across the same period. Unsurprisingly, London particularly feels the pinch, with rents rising by 11.6% alone in 2024, and the average monthly rent going above £2,200. The result?
Tenants paying an average 44.5% of their salary on rent in a city where 183,000 people are currently homeless and living in temporary accommodation. Meanwhile, the private rental sector is shrinking as landlords decide to sell up – equating to a net reduction of 4.3% in homes in recent years.
The picture isn’t too dissimilar in Spain. Rents have risen by a shocking 57% over the past decade, as the Bank of Spain reports that half of tenants spend 40% of their income on rent and bills, compared with an EU average of 27%. This housing crisis has now become Spaniards’ biggest concern, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling it an “emergency”.
The picture is particularly bleak in cities like Barcelona, where rental prices have soared by 68%, and house prices have increased by 38%. Household incomes struggle to keep pace with skyrocketing rents, which rose from €900 in 2021, to €1200 in 2024.
In both Spain and the UK, home ownership seems like an ever-increasing distant dream. A common denominator? Foreign ownership of housing getting out of control.
In the UK, data shows that more than 138,000 residential and commercial properties in England and Wales are owned by offshore companies, with their holdings in London worth a combined £55 billion. 44% of all UK properties owned by overseas structures are located in London, with a high concentration being in zone one. London is the only region in England to have experienced increases in residential vacancy every year since 2016, with 38,000 homes being left for prolonged periods in 2024.
Across the Channel, it’s not too different. Statistics from the Spanish Ministry of Housing showed that almost 8% of homes bought last year were acquired by non-resident foreigners – a figure which is only going up. Every year, more than 32 million visitors come to Barcelona – almost 20 times the local population – and 40% of the total available homes are being put aside for tourists and seasonal renters.
Faced with what they see as a desperate situation, the Spanish are taking matters into their own hands. Last week, Barcelona saw thousands of its residents take to the streets to protest tourism, which they see as being instrumental in the housing crisis. Brandishing signs which read “Your AirBnB used to be my home” and squirting tourists with water guns, Barcelonans have finally had enough. For them, uncontrolled numbers of visitors are driving locals out of their neighbourhoods, as they fight for their homes being lost to AirBnB and foreign ownership.
It might seem like a tough ask. Tourism accounts for 14% of Barcelona’s GDP, employs about 150,000 people, and generates almost €12.75 billion a year. Spain as a whole is improving economically, with GDP growing by 3.2% last year, and this has largely been credited with a booming tourism economy. Last year, visitors generated revenues of €126 billion, as it closes in on France as the most popular tourist destination in the world.
Nevertheless, both Barcelona and Spain are taking the housing issue seriously, recognising that without action, their own people will continue to be evicted by the wealth of foreigners. Barcelona’s city council has decided that it will not renew licenses for the 10,000 plus apartments currently approved for short-term rentals when they expire in 2028, and it is also considering banning foreign property investors. The national government is also making strides, having passed a law which will see a 100% tax for homes bought by non-EU residents earlier this year.
In this, there is much to be learned. Not only are there many creative ways to tackle a housing shortage, but that a solution may actually be very simple: reserve properties for those who live, work, and contribute to the economy. Of course, the UK is in dire need of affordable, quality housing, for both private and public ownership. However, when one in every 44 homes in London are being left empty (a figure which has doubled since 2016), is there much excuse to ignore this issue for much longer?
Turning on foreign ownership with water guns isn’t the takeaway here. However, as the government is scrambling to see how they might make up the figures, getting creative with their policies might be their best bet. After all, who could be outraged with a crack down on foreign ownership of housing to bring some existing high-quality properties back into the hands of UK residents?
Trafalgar Strategy is a strategic communications consultancy operating at the intersection of politics, business, and the media.