Two weeks ago, the SOS Residents pressure group in Mallorca sent a letter to members of ABINI, the association of national and international real-estate agencies. An exclusive group of agencies typically operating at the high end of the property market, many are international companies and with a predominantly foreign client base.
Among other things, the letter stated: "Every luxury villa sold to a millionaire, a retiree, or a foreign family means a local family without a home ... . The residents of Mallorca no longer want you, if you come to speculate, to make a profit, and to empty our towns. Do business in your own home."
Calling for "a state pact on housing", the association says: "We are also residents of the Balearics. Our children study here, and we share the same problems. Do they also want to ban tourism so no one comes to enjoy the Balearics?"
The statement, signed by the ABINI president, Daniel Arenas, cites the legal problems that a ban on selling homes to foreigners would entail, while pointing out that "the exodus of Mallorcans has the same effect on prices and supply in other areas of Spain". The housing problem "affects society internationally, not just locally".
In considering the causes of rising housing prices, the association points to "the lack of new housing developments and the stagnation in space creation, the enormous rise in the price of materials, housing taxes, a lack of social housing, and incessant political dispute".
"We don't set prices, owners do. And it's not true that every sale of a luxury home leaves a local family homeless. Less than a third of sales in the Balearic Islands are to foreigners, many of them directly between foreigners. It is natural and legitimate for any homeowner to want to obtain the maximum possible value for their home."
But the association demands responsibility because "not every home is capable of being a luxury home", the statement adding that "our partners are working hard to dispel the erroneous myth among sellers that for every home, there's a foreigner who wants to buy it".