Spain passes housing crackdown after mass protests, but election could wipe it out

Spain's interim lower house ratified a package of housing measures on Thursday, one day after a general strike and major street protests over the country's housing costs. The first decree cleared the chamber in a 35-34 vote. A second decree was rejected 34-35, exactly as expected.

The surviving decree extends protection against eviction until 2030 for tenants that social services judge to be in a precarious financial or social position, for as long as regional authorities can't offer them somewhere else to live. It also blocks companies involved in the real estate market from buying properties for less than 70% of their value, a shot at the buy-low, resell-high playbook. And it halts rent increases on units already priced above the government's reference price index for the neighborhood.

The package adds a 10% tax on apartments rented to tourists, including those booked through online platforms, plus a tax incentive to encourage leasing and government-backed loans to help with down payments on homes for residential use.

The rejected decree would have made residential leases automatically renewable by tenants, and forced owners who wanted out of a contract to compensate renters with a year's worth of rent. Too many lawmakers figured that would push homeowners to yank properties off the rental market, cutting supply and driving prices higher. A center-right Basque party voted with the right-wing bloc after backing the other decree.

None of it is guaranteed to stick. The conservative Popular Party has said it will repeal the left-wing government's housing measures if it takes power, which polls suggest is a real possibility. The government first tried to force the measures through in October, after public anger over soaring rents erupted following the nationally-televised eviction and death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid; the PP and conservative allies rejected them, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called an early election for Nov. 29 in response. Trying again meant working with the interim chamber — 69 members instead of the usual 350 — where Sánchez's side and aligned progressive parties hold a slightly friendlier split of seats, and splitting the package in two so the doomed lease-renewal measure wouldn't sink the rest.