This letter has been signed “The residents of Mallorca” and has been sent to every major British media outlet.
Dear foreign buyers and real estate agencies,
We write to you out of necessity, not courtesy. For decades now, our island has been treated as a commodity: a place to be exploited, a holiday backdrop, a picturesque postcard to be bought and sold. All of this has come at a cost that we can no longer bear.
You have seen the turquoise waters, the sunny beaches, the historic towns. But no one has asked you to look at the reality:
•Locals are being pushed out of their towns by unaffordable prices.
•Families are forced to leave because houses are no longer for living in, but for speculation.
•Fields and rural land destroyed to build villas that are only occupied a few weeks a year.
•Water, roads and services are saturated, while the quality of life of residents plummets.
Especially in the German case, we can already speak of economic and demographic colonization: neighborhoods and towns where the language and local life have been replaced by an imported model, alien to our reality. Your investments and golden retirements are not neutral. Every luxury villa sold to a millionaire, a foreign retiree or a foreign family means one local family without a home. Every agency that advertises “a Mediterranean paradise” in London, Berlin or New York fuels gentrification and drives out those who have lived here all their lives.
Our government has turned its back on us. For years it has embraced this model with open arms, ignoring the consequences for those who live and work here all year round. Our government has fueled speculation. They have prioritized the profits of a few over the desperation of the majority, who can no longer live in their own land.
We are tired. Tired of being foreigners in our own home. Tired of seeing our communities, our language and our culture disappear. Tired of watching our territory consumed for someone else’s gain.
That is why we want to tell you very clearly: the residents of Mallorca do not want you anymore. You are not welcome if you come here to buy houses for speculation, if you come to profit and empty our villages. Do your business at home. Do not come here to force us out of our own land.
You may have the money to buy property here. But understand this: you do not have our welcome. Mallorca is more than an amusement park for the rich - it is a living land, a community, a home.
If you truly love this island, respect it enough not to turn it into a financial product. Do your business at home and leave us in peace. If not, know that you are part of the problem, and that the people of Mallorca will no longer remain silent. Mallorca belongs to its people. And that is how we want it to remain.
Sincerely,
The residents of Mallorca