Protesters blame 'vulture funds' for Spain's housing crisis
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Jorge Moreno (left) says "vulture funds" are hiking up rents, while Pierina Nicuray points out that there is "a lack of homes" in Spain Pierina Nicuray, a 21-year-old university graduate, has spent a week camped out in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square.
豪尔赫·莫雷诺（左）表示“秃鹫基金”正在抬高租金，而皮耶琳娜·尼库雷则指出西班牙“缺乏住房” 21 岁的大学毕业生皮耶琳娜·尼库雷 (Pierina Nicuray) 在马德里的太阳门广场露营了一个星期。
Like many of the hundreds of others who have pitched their tents here to protest at Spain's housing crisis, she has no doubts when it comes to diagnosing the cause.
和其他数百名在这里扎营抗议西班牙住房危机的人一样，她对诊断原因毫不怀疑。
"It's the same problem as always," she says.
“这和往常一样都是同样的问题，”她说。
"A lack of homes." She adds: "Landlords are taking advantage of the situation to raise rentals, and then there's also Airbnb."
“缺乏家园。” 她补充道：“房东正在利用这种情况来提高租金，然后还有 Airbnb。”
Jorge Moreno, a 19-year-old film-dubbing student who has also been living in a tent here in central Madrid for the last few days, agrees.
豪尔赫·莫雷诺 (Jorge Moreno) 是一名 19 岁的电影配音学生，过去几天也一直住在马德里市中心的一个帐篷里，他对此表示同意。
"There are so many homes standing empty because they have been bought by vulture funds and investment funds which hike up the rent of people living in properties until they get rid of them," says Jorge, who lives with his mother and fears it will be a long time before he can afford a home of his own.
“有这么多房屋空着，因为它们被秃鹫基金和投资基金买走了，这些基金提高了居住在房产中的人的租金，直到他们卖掉它们，”与母亲住在一起的豪尔赫说，他担心自己需要很长时间才能买得起自己的房子。
"They've been making a business of housing for a long time," he adds.
“他们长期以来一直从事住房业务，”他补充道。
"But it's an abusive business which stops Spaniards from being able to live in a decent home." His and Pierina's diagnoses are frequently voiced by fellow protesters, ordinary Spaniards and even the Spanish government.
“但这是一种虐待行为，它使西班牙人无法生活在体面的家庭中。” 他和皮耶里娜的诊断经常被其他抗议者、普通西班牙人甚至西班牙政府表达。
On presenting a recent package of emergency measures to tackle the housing problem, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was legislating "against those who consider housing just another object on the market with which to speculate".
在提出最近解决住房问题的一揽子紧急措施时，社会党总理佩德罗·桑切斯表示，他正在立法“反对那些认为住房只是市场上另一个投机对象的人”。
Those reforms were rejected by Congress, prompting Sánchez to call a snap election next month.
这些改革被国会否决，促使桑切斯呼吁下个月提前举行选举。
Nicuray and Moreno can point to the single case that sparked the current Spanish housing protest movement as proof that profit-driven practices are at the heart of the crisis: the 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her home after the investment firm that had bought it tried to persuade her to leave, then sharply increased her rent, which she was unable to pay.
尼库雷和莫雷诺可以举出引发当前西班牙住房抗议运动的一个案例来证明，以利润为导向的做法是危机的核心：87岁的马里卡门·阿巴斯卡尔(Maricarmen Abascal)在购买该房屋的投资公司试图说服她离开后，被赶出了家，然后大幅提高了她无力支付的租金。
Although the social backlash that followed caused the company to invite Abascal to return to her old home, she never did, dying in hospital on Wednesday.
尽管随之而来的社会强烈反对导致公司邀请阿巴斯卡回到她的老家，但她从未这样做，并于周三在医院去世。
Protesters at Pueta del Sol have been paying tributes to Maricarmen Abascal Many others have their own stories of struggling with a soaring rental market.
太阳门的抗议者向马里卡门·阿巴斯卡尔致敬 许多其他人都有自己在飙升的租赁市场中挣扎的故事。
Carmen Pérez is a retired widow, originally from Ecuador, who has been living in Spain for 17 years.
卡门·佩雷斯 (Carmen Pérez) 是一位退休寡妇，原籍厄瓜多尔，在西班牙生活了 17 年。
When she arrived, housing was relatively cheap and accessible, but - as costs have risen - she has been forced to move in with her daughter and son-in-law as she looks for somewhere affordable to rent.
当她到达时，住房相对便宜且方便，但随着成本上升，她被迫搬去与女儿和女婿同住，因为她正在寻找负担得起的租金。
"When a property is listed to rent, there's always a long waiting list," she says.
“当一处房产挂牌出租时，总会有很长的等待名单，”她说。
"And the rent is always too high for me.
“而且房租对我来说总是太高了。
All of this has affected my health - I've got depression, I don't have any stability or security." Spain has seen an average rise in rental costs of 84% over the last 10 years, according to property outlet Idealista. In the centre of the southern city of Málaga, the increase has been 113 %, and, in Marbella - just under 150%.
所有这一切都影响了我的健康——我患有抑郁症，我没有任何稳定或安全感。” 根据房地产媒体 Idealista 的数据，过去 10 年西班牙的租金成本平均上涨了 84%。 在南部城市马拉加市中心，增幅为 113%，而在马贝拉，增幅略低于 150%。
Such numbers have made housing Spaniards' biggest concern.
这些数字成为西班牙人最关心的住房问题。
A recent study by the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) showed how the broader Spanish population, like the protesters, want to see action taken against those perceived to be powerful movers in the housing market.
社会学研究中心（CIS）最近的一项研究表明，像抗议者一样，更广泛的西班牙民众希望看到对那些被认为是房地产市场强大推动者的人采取行动。
Some 72% wanted higher taxes introduced for those with 10 or more properties; 76% wanted limits on short-term tourist accommodation; and 40% supported the expropriation of empty homes.
约 72% 的人希望对拥有 10 处或以上房产的人征收更高的税； 76%的人希望限制短期旅游住宿； 40%的人支持征用空置房屋。
Carmen Pérez says high rental costs have affected her health However, Jorge Galindo, director at the Esade centre for economic policy, says that available data makes it difficult to know exactly how many Spanish properties are owned by so-called "vulture funds" and being used for speculation.
卡门·佩雷斯 (Carmen Pérez) 表示高昂的租金影响了她的健康 然而，埃萨德经济政策中心主任豪尔赫·加林多表示，现有数据很难准确了解有多少西班牙房产被所谓的“秃鹫基金”拥有并被用于投机。
He points to Bank of Spain figures from 2024 showing that only 8% of properties for rent are owned by companies.
他指出，西班牙央行 2024 年的数据显示，只有 8% 的出租房产归公司所有。
Galindo says he concludes from the data available that there is not a notable accumulation of property to rent among a small number of owners in Spain.
加林多说，他从现有数据得出的结论是，西班牙的少数业主并没有大量积累可供出租的房产。
"When it comes to explaining the rise in rentals, that is not the big cause," he says.
“当谈到解释租金上涨时，这并不是主要原因，”他说。
"What explains it is the shortage of supply compared to demand over recent years."
“造成这种情况的原因是近年来供应与需求相比短缺。”
The Bank of Spain appears to agree, and has estimated that the country has a housing shortfall of around 750,000 homes.
西班牙央行似乎也同意这一观点，并估计该国住房缺口约为 75 万套。
The institution's deputy governor, Soledad Núñez, warned in September that by 2028 that could rise to one million. There are 3.8 million empty properties in Spain, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), but a large number of those are in depopulated rural areas and therefore have little relevance to the current crisis, which is most acute in urban hubs.
该机构副院长 Soledad Núñez 在 9 月份警告说，到 2028 年，这一数字可能会增加到 100 万。 根据国家统计局 (INE) 的数据，西班牙有 380 万处空置房产，但其中大部分位于人口稀少的农村地区，因此与当前的危机关系不大，而当前的危机在城市中心最为严重。
Other explanations for this high number include properties awaiting renovation, or legal disputes between family members who have inherited them.
造成如此高数字的其他原因包括等待翻新的房产，或继承这些房产的家庭成员之间的法律纠纷。
Demographic changes play a major part in the imbalance between supply and demand.
人口变化在供需失衡中发挥着重要作用。
Between 2021 and 2025, there were about 1.2 million new households in Spain, driven in great part by the arrival of migrants who have played a major role in the country's recent economic growth.
2021年至2025年间，西班牙新增约120万户家庭，这在很大程度上是由移民的到来推动的，移民在该国近期的经济增长中发挥了重要作用。
However, house building has not kept pace, with fewer than half-a-million new homes during that period.
然而，房屋建设并没有跟上步伐，同期新房数量还不到 50 万套。
That was partly because Spain's construction industry had shrunk in the wake of the Eurozone crisis, while the cost of materials rose substantially after Covid, and a lack of political consensus put legal obstacles in the way of building.
部分原因是西班牙的建筑业在欧元区危机后萎缩，而新冠疫情后材料成本大幅上涨，而且缺乏政治共识给建筑带来了法律障碍。
"It was not a priority for us to build new houses," Galindo says.
“建造新房并不是我们的首要任务，”加林多说。
"But, once the demographic boom came, we realised how costly it was for us."
“但是，一旦人口激增到来，我们就意识到这对我们来说代价有多大。”
He adds that short-term tourist accommodation, like Airbnb, which has been identified by both the Spanish government and many activists as a culprit, is likely to have had a more localised effect, pushing up prices in specific urban areas rather than having an overall impact.
他补充说，短期旅游住宿，例如被西班牙政府和许多活动人士认定为罪魁祸首的 Airbnb，可能会产生更局部的影响，推高特定城市地区的价格，而不是产生整体影响。
Meanwhile, the crisis has been aggravated by lagging salaries. A study by El País found that, in real terms, the average Spaniard had 5% less spending power than a decade ago, due to taxes, social security and inflation.
与此同时，薪资滞后加剧了危机。 《国家报》的一项研究发现，按实际价值计算，由于税收、社会保障和通货膨胀，西班牙人的平均消费能力比十年前下降了 5%。
The average monthly salary in the Madrid region is €1,550 (£1,314; $1,738).
马德里地区的平均月薪为 1,550 欧元（1,314 英镑；1,738 美元）。
"No worker should have to spend 75% or 80% of their salary on rent, because what are they supposed to eat?"
“任何工人都不应该把工资的 75% 或 80% 花在房租上，因为他们要吃什么？”
says Francisco Pardo, an 81-year-old retired taxi driver, who sympathises with the protesters, during a visit to the tent city in Madrid. "Many workers don't even earn €2,000 [per month]."
81 岁的退休出租车司机弗朗西斯科·帕尔多 (Francisco Pardo) 在参观马德里的帐篷城时说道，他对抗议者表示同情。 “许多工人[每月]的收入甚至不到 2,000 欧元。”
The case of Maricarmen has suddenly made the housing crisis an urgent topic of discussion, not just in Madrid's Puerta del Sol but across the country. The question now is whether a consensus can be reached on how to solve it.
马里卡门的案件突然使住房危机成为讨论的紧迫话题，不仅在马德里的太阳门广场，而且在全国范围内。 现在的问题是能否就如何解决达成共识。
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