Spain orders Airbnb to remove over 65,000 holiday rental listings amid housing crisis crackdown

This clampdown targets popular tourist hotspots such as Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia, and Catalonia, where short-term rentals have been widely blamed for exacerbating housing shortages and driving up rental prices, making affordable housing increasingly inaccessible for local residents.

SPAIN – The government of Spain has mandated Airbnb to remove more than 65,000 holiday rental listings that allegedly violate existing regulations, as part of a broader government effort to address the country’s worsening housing crisis.

The Consumer Rights Ministry revealed that the majority of these listings either lacked a valid license number or failed to clearly disclose whether the property owner was an individual or a corporation.

This clampdown targets popular tourist hotspots such as Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia, and Catalonia, where short-term rentals have been widely blamed for exacerbating housing shortages and driving up rental prices, making affordable housing increasingly inaccessible for local residents.

Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy expressed firm determination to end what he described as a pervasive “lack of control” and widespread “illegality” in the holiday rental sector.

The minister criticized operators profiting from short-term rentals at the expense of local communities’ access to affordable homes, underscoring the social urgency behind the crackdown.

The government’s enforcement action follows months of warnings to Airbnb regarding noncompliant listings.

Despite these notifications, Airbnb had appealed the removal orders in court.

However, Madrid’s high court has upheld the government’s directive, instructing Airbnb to begin with the immediate removal of 5,800 listings, with further phased removals planned until the full total of 65,935 listings is withdrawn from the platform.

Airbnb has responded by announcing plans to continue appealing the decision, arguing that the ministry lacks jurisdiction over short-term rentals and that the government’s methodology is indiscriminate, including some listings that do not violate regulations.

The company also pointed to broader structural issues such as insufficient housing supply relative to demand as root causes of the affordability crisis, suggesting that the crackdown alone will not resolve these challenges.

The Spanish government, alongside regional and municipal authorities, has intensified efforts to regulate short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com, which many locals blame for driving excessive tourism and reducing long-term housing availability.

The crackdown reflects growing public protests and political pressure to balance tourism’s economic benefits with the social need for affordable housing.

As Spain grapples with one of Europe’s most acute housing affordability crises, this decisive action against noncompliant holiday rentals signals a significant shift toward stricter oversight and enforcement in the rapidly growing short-term rental market.

The government’s priority remains safeguarding consumer rights and ensuring that the right to housing is not undermined by unchecked tourism rentals.

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