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Housing marches were scheduled for 3 October 2026 in more than 50 Spanish cities, after Congress rejected two proposed tenant-protection decrees the day before. The eviction of 87-year-old Madrid tenant Maricarmen Abascal helped bring wider anger over housing affordability and renter insecurity into focus. Final attendance figures were not yet established.

Why protests were called across Spain

The Tenants’ Union coordinated the 3 October demonstrations following the 2 October parliamentary rejection of two government decrees intended to strengthen tenant protections. The Union described a disconnect between public demands and parliamentary votes, telling Euronews: “There is an irreparable disconnect between what the people want and what the parties vote for.”

The call for marches reflected a broader dispute over rents, housing affordability and eviction protections. Abascal’s case made that dispute especially visible, but the protests were not solely about her individual eviction.

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How Maricarmen Abascal’s eviction became a symbol

Abascal was evicted from her Madrid home on 23 September 2026, after living there for 70 years under a rent-control lease, according to EFE. The eviction prompted public backlash and protests, as well as encampments reported by EFE. The Associated Press later reported that the real estate company agreed to let her return to the apartment.

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In a video recorded from a hospital bed after the eviction, Abascal said: “I haven’t managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others can learn to fight for what’s theirs.” The Associated Press quoted her remarks.

What the rejected decrees proposed—and what they did not do

The two decrees were proposals, not laws that took effect. Reporting on the measures described automatic renewal of rental contracts when they expired and restrictions on evicting vulnerable tenants among their provisions. Congress’s rejection means those proposed protections were not enacted through these decrees.

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The proposals addressed renter security. They should not be confused with measures to expand housing supply: the available descriptions do not establish a detailed supply plan within these decrees or quantify what their proposed protections would have done to rents or eviction rates.

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What the housing figures say

Several indicators point to substantial pressure, but they measure different things and should not be treated as interchangeable:

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  • Home prices: Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) recorded a 12.2% year-on-year increase in its Housing Price Index in 2026 Q2. This is an official home-price measure, not a rent statistic.
  • Advertised rents: Idealista’s advertised average rent was €15.1 per square metre in August 2026, 5.8% higher than a year earlier, according to Euronews. This is private listing data, not the INE home-price index or a measure of every rent paid in Spain.
  • Difficulty finding housing: In the INE’s 2025 Living Conditions Survey module, 7.6% of people aged 16 and over said they had searched for housing during the prior year without changing residence. Among those who had searched but not moved, 67.2% named price as the main reason. These survey results describe housing-access difficulty; they are not a count of missing homes.

Why the shortage is concentrated in particular places

Spain’s housing pressure is geographically uneven. Euronews highlighted a mismatch between where homes are available and where demand is strongest: housing in a low-demand municipality does not necessarily meet demand in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga or Palma.

The OECD’s 2025 survey describes several barriers to adding homes in high-demand areas: limited buildable land, slow and uncertain planning approvals, construction productivity and labour issues, rising costs, tight lending and weak incentives to build affordable housing. The pressures are therefore not explained by one cause or one group, and the available evidence does not support attributing all price increases to a single policy.

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What is known about the demonstrations

The call covered more than 50 cities, but that planned geographic reach is not a verified turnout count. At the time the reports were published, final attendance by city and a total for all marches had not been established. The protests can be understood as a response to both an immediate eviction case and longer-running concerns about affordability and tenant security, without treating either as the sole cause of Spain’s housing pressures.

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