Spain is converting 53,000 tourist apartments into permanent rentals.

The Spanish government announced that it will remove approximately 53,000 tourist apartments from the Tourist and Seasonal Rentals Register and convert them into permanent rentals. The decision was announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at an event in Malaga on Sunday.

"Most of the houses here were used for tourist rentals, and we detected thousands of irregularities. Now we will convert 53,000 of them into permanent rental housing for our youth and families," Sanchez said.

The Ministry of Housing has instructed tourist accommodation platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com to remove listings for the apartments in question. Airbnb, in a statement, said, “This is a new chapter for Airbnb in Spain, defined by a long-term vision of collaboration, quality, and sustainable growth for the benefit of all.” The platform announced that listings without a registration number will be deleted immediately.

By region, the most canceled tourist apartments were in Andalusia (16,740 apartments), followed by the Canary Islands (8,698), Catalonia (7,729), Valencia (7,499), Galicia (2,640), the Balearic Islands (2,373), Madrid (1,531) and Murcia (1,402).

The highest number of cancellations by city were Seville (2,289), Marbella (1,802), Barcelona (1,564), Malaga (1,471), Madrid (1,257), and Benalmadena (926). In the Autonomous Community of Madrid, 83% of applications were for temporary rentals, while only 17% were registered as tourist rentals.

With this step, Spain aims to reduce the density of the tourist housing market and provide more accessible and permanent housing options for young people and families.