'Anger in the streets': Tens of thousands protest in Spain over housing crisis

Updated 4 October 2026 04: 42 BST.

Key points

• MPs rejected the first decree by 178 votes to 172 and voted against the second by 184 to 166.
• It remarked Barcelona and Madrid were Spain's most expensive cities to rent a home, at €23.80 per square metre and €22.70 per square metre respectively.
• Another protester, 26-year-old librarian Marcos Sainz, informed AFP news agency that he employed to share a two-bedroom flat with friends, paying 900 euros (£766) a month in rent.
• The Bank of Spain estimates the country is short of 700, 000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.
• House rates have risen by 12.2% previously year, according to figures for the second quarter of 2026 from national statistics institute INE.

Tens of thousands of individuals have protested throughout Spain calling for greater protections for tenants after the administration failed to pass emergency housing legislation.

Regarding 50 marches took place on Saturday in cities including Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.

"There is a lot of anger in the streets, " a spokesperson for the Valencia Tenants' Union remarked. Clashes have taken place between some protesters and police in the city.

Meanwhile, the measures proposed by Pedro Sánchez's leftist coalition administration on Friday followed public outcry over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home last month after she was unable to afford a sharp rent rise.

Her eviction triggered nationwide protests throughout Spain with protesters demanding lower rents, an end to evictions, and a ban on investment funds – or "vulture funds" as the administration has termed them – buying property.

Sanchez's defeat in Congress on Friday heightens speculation that he might call an early general election. It was not due until next summer.

His coalition administration, produced up of his ruling Socialist party and junior partner the Sumar alliance, does not command a majority in parliament.

Spanish PM Sánchez loses key housing crisis vote after eviction of woman, 87.

Photographs indicated protesters in the east coast city of Valencia clashing with police officers on Saturday near arts centre Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. It was hosting a real estate summit.

For context, a number of protesters removed barriers and threw objects at officers. This person responded with rubber bullets, Spanish media noted. Public broadcaster RTVE remarked nine police officers were injured and five residents were arrested.

One of the biggest demonstration happened in the capital, Madrid, where estimates of the number of participants varied widely. While office-holders put the figure at 70, 000, the city's Tenants' Union remarked there were 500, 000.

Demonstrators held banners reading "There won't be peace for rentism" and "I study to have a future, not to have a tiny apartment". They shook the keys they were holding and chanted: "We have the keys of all the city".

Some had additionally camped in one of the city's main squares, Puerta del Sol, for days.

One protester, David, informed RTVE ahead of the protest: "We're not here for pleasure or comfort. We're here out of conviction."

Another protester, 26-year-old librarian Marcos Sainz, informed AFP news agency that he employed to share a two-bedroom flat with friends, paying 900 euros (£766) a month in rent. Today, he remarked a one-bedroom flat often costs 1, 000 euros.

Sainz remarked he would protest against rent rises "until someone dares to regulate it all", or "we'll all have to leave Madrid".

As they tried to reach demonstrators in the square, spanish police remarked they had arrested three members of a far-right group, some of whom had performed Nazi salutes.

On Friday night, Madrid's Tenants' Union remarked that although the government's proposed measures were insufficient, the rejection of the proposed legislation "exacerbates the housing crisis which is costing the working class their lives". It is calling for a general strike over the housing crisis.

Notably, the legislation proposed in Congress on Friday was divided into two decrees.

Notably, the first included the suspension of evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, a two-year extension to rental leases due to expire before 2028, tax increases for tourist apartments, and a restriction on the purchase of residential properties by so-called "vulture funds".

In practice, the second decree included the automatic renewal of rental contracts, a major demand of plenty of on the left and the Tenants' Union.

Prior to the vote, the conservative People's Party (PP) and far-right Vox had already remarked they would vote against both initiatives, leaving the minority administration depending on the backing of smaller nationalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque Country.

Nevertheless, by the eve of the parliamentary session, the centre-right, pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) had signalled its opposition to both laws, condemning them to failure.

Sánchez's ruling coalition hurriedly drew up the decree laws in a bid to defuse the housing protests that were sparked when 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted in September.

Notably, the social backlash led to the firm that owns Abascal's flat, Urbagestión, negotiating her return to the flat on a low rent. Nevertheless, protests have continued. Dramatic eviction of woman aged 87 highlights Spain's housing shortage. Evicted Spanish pensioner can move back home, lawyer notes.

In practice, the Bank of Spain estimates the country is short of 700, 000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.

Meanwhile, the shortage in rental housing means that costs rose by 8.5% in 2025, according to real estate firm Idealista, with Madrid alone seeing an growth of 9.7% in rents.

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For now, ' Anger in the streets' : Tens of thousands protest in Spain over housing remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.