Second-quarter figures from the General Council of the Judiciary indicate that the Balearics have the second highest eviction rate in Spain. There were 245 evictions, a year-on-year increase of just under four per cent. Of these, 204 were for non-payment of rent or because the contracted rental period had expired - a 4.6% increase. For rentals specifically, the rate was 16.6 evictions per 100,000 inhabitants; the national average was 10.9.
Economist Pau A. Montserrat, a professor at the University of the Balearic Islands, links this eviction rate to the high prices to rent and to the legal uncertainty that landlords have to contend with. He believes rents are so high precisely because of this uncertainty and not because landlords want to speculate.
"Prices are so high because there is a great deal of legal uncertainty. Landlords know they face the possibility of non-payment, and if tenants are considered to be vulnerable, it is very difficult to evict them. They have to go to court, which is very slow.
"If we could provide security to landlords, rents would not be so high. When contracts end and renewals are made, prices rise because there is very little supply; there are very few homes that owners want to rent out. This means that families who have been forced to rent, over time and with very limited salaries, are unable to pay the rent." Eighty-five per cent of the evictions of tenants in the second quarter of this year were for non-payment of rent.
"So long as we have such a small housing stock, there are no social housing units for rent, and we have salaries so capped by the productivity of the hotel sector, we will face this problem: families unable to pay the rent.
"Measures taken by governments, far from containing prices, can have the opposite effect. A reduction in supply occurs if rents are capped and owners face legal uncertainty. This in turn leads to higher prices, either declared or not."