Mileurista is a familiar term in Spanish. Basically, it means that you earn 1,000 euros a month, almost the average Spanish wage. It’s not a lot of money and Spanish wages have fallen since the start of the recession and millions of other people are earning even less than 1,000 euros. But this is the average wage overall. Taking this into account, look at the price of a rental family property in Palma. In many cases it is around 1,000 euros. So how are Spanish families meant to survive when one salary basically equals the rent? This is the downside of the holiday rental saga.
Spanish families can no longer afford to pay the rent because property owners are making a small fortune out of renting out their property to tourists. This was a trend which happened a few years ago. It started on a small scale and then all of a sudden every Majorcan who owned a property appeared to be moving out and living elsewhere so that they could cash on the rental boom. As a direct result rents have rocketed. The local authorities are well aware of this state of affairs. In fact, they do see the positive sides of holiday rentals. Property owners can make money and the local economy benefits. In rural areas it has made a big difference. Villages, a long way from the resorts, have all of a sudden become small "players" within the tourist industry. The arrival of a group of tourists every week can make a big difference to the economy of a village.
But the downside is that many are now struggling to find a long-term rental home. The local government is right. There needs to be a crackdown but it could come at a cost.