Across Spain, tens of thousands march to protest the growing housing crisis

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in protests held across the European country on Saturday in anger over high housing costs with no relief in sight.

Government authorities said that 15,000 marched in Madrid, while organizers said 10 times that many took to the streets of the capital. In Barcelona, the city hall said 12,000 people took part in the protest, while organizers claimed over 100,000 did.

The massive demonstration of social angst that is a major concern for Spain's left-wing government and town halls was organized by housing activists and backed by Spain’s main labor unions.

The housing crisis has hit particularly hard in Spain, where there is a strong tradition of home ownership and scant public housing for rent. Rents have been driven up by increased demand. Buying a home has become unaffordable for many, with market pressures and speculation driving up prices, especially in big cities and coastal areas.

A generation of young people say they have to stay with their parents or spend big just to share an apartment, with little chance of saving enough to one day purchase a home. High housing costs mean even those with traditionally well-paying jobs are struggling to make ends meet.

“I’m living with four people and still, I allocate 30 or 40% of my salary to rent,” said Mari Sánchez, a 26-year-old lawyer in Madrid. “That doesn’t allow me to save. That doesn’t allow me to do anything. It doesn’t even allow me to buy a car. That’s my current situation, and the one many young people are living through.”

Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said on X that “I share the demand of the numerous people who have marched today: that homes are for living in and not for speculating."

The average rent in Spain has almost doubled in the last 10 years. The price per square meter rose from 7.2 euros ($7.90) in 2014 to 13 euros last year, according to real estate website Idealista. The increase is bigger in Madrid and Barcelona.

Incomes have failed to keep up despite Spain's recent economic boom, especially for younger people in a country with chronically high unemployment.

Spain does not have the public housing that other European nations have invested in to cushion struggling renters from a market that is pricing them out.

Spain is near the bottom end of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries with public housing for rent making up under 2% of all available housing. The OECD average is 7%. In France it is is 14%, Britain 16% and the Netherlands 34%.

Angry renters point to instances of international hedge funds buying up properties, often with the aim of renting them to foreign tourists. The question has become so politically charged that Barcelona’s city government pledged last year to phase out all its 10,000 permits for short-term rentals, many of them advertised on platforms like Airbnb, by 2028.

Marchers in Madrid on Saturday chanted “Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods" and held up signs against short-term rentals. In Barcelona, someone carried a sign reading “I am not leaving, vampire," apparently in a message to would-be real estate speculator seeking to drive him out of his home.

The central government's biggest initiative for curbing the cost of housing is a rent cap mechanism it has offered to regional authorities, based on a price index established by the housing ministry. The government says the measure has slightly reduced rents in Barcelona, one of the few areas it has been applied.

But government measures have not proven enough to stop protests over the past two years. Experts say the situation likely won't improve anytime soon.

“This is not the first, nor will it be the last, (housing protest) given the severity of the housing crisis,” Ignasi Martí, professor with the Esade business school and head of its Dignified Housing Observatory, said in an email.

“We saw this with the financial crisis (of 2008-2012) when (a protest movement) lasted until there was a certain economic recovery and a reduction in the social tension," Marti added.

People gather during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 5, 2025. The sign says "I'm not leaving vampire". (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People gather during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A girl holds a banner reading "housing killing" as people gather during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People gather during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People gather during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People gather during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A demonstrator looks out from a hole in a banner with a painting of a house and a key during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Madrid, Spain, Saturday April 5, 2025. Message reads'Housing union Tetuan' (district of Madrid). (AP Photo/Paul White)

People depicting bankers march during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Madrid, Spain, Saturday April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul White)

People march during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Madrid, Spain, Saturday April 5, 2025. Main banners read 'Rents impossible, rights for housing. Rights for a roof.' (AP Photo/Paul White)

People march with a flag depicting a rich banker during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Madrid, Spain, Saturday April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul White)

People march during a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Madrid, Spain, Saturday April 5, 2025. Main banner reads 'Lower the prices.' (AP Photo/Paul White)

A man crosses the street in front of a demonstration to protest high housing costs in Madrid, Spain, Saturday April 5, 2025. Banner reads ' Lower the prices. let's go for the rent strike' (AP Photo/Paul White)

A U.S.-Russian dual national imprisoned in Russia on treason charges was freed Thursday in a prisoner exchange with Washington, the woman's lawyer and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Ksenia Karelina, also identified in the media as Ksenia Khavana, is “on a plane back home to the United States,” Rubio said in a post on X. She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason later that year on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine.

The U.S. authorities have called the case against her “absolutely ludicrous.” Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine. Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the United States carried out in the last three years.

Karelina, a former ballet dancer, reportedly obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She was arrested when she returned to Russia to visit her family last year.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, accused her of “proactively" collecting money for a Ukrainian organization that was supplying gear to Kyiv's forces. The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a U.S. charity aiding Ukraine.

Karelina’s lawyer Mikhail Mushailov said on Instagram that she was flying to the U.S. from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the exchange took place. It was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing a statement from CIA director John Ratcliffe, who it said was on hand for the exchange at an airport in Abu Dhabi.

“Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,” Ratcliffe said. “I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the Government of U.A.E. for enabling the exchange.”

The CIA could not be immediately reached for comment in the early hours of Thursday.

The WSJ said that the U.S. in exchange freed Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen, who was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the U.S. for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics to Russia. There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian or U.S. authorities.

Petrov was extradited to the U.S. in August 2024 where he faced charges of export control violations, smuggling, wire fraud and money laundering. He was accused of involvement in a scheme to procure U.S.-sourced microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military.

Abu Dhabi was earlier the scene of another high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. In December 2022, American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine, while the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai has become home to many Russians and Ukrainian who fled there after the start of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.(AP Photo/File)