European capitals have been hit by the housing crisis. What you need to know

The story of Maricarmen Abascal, a Spanish pensioner and disabled person, who was evicted from her Madrid apartment despite the activity of human rights activists, the intervention of the United Nations, media appeals and even mass protests by local residents, drew attention to the housing crisis in Europe. Despite the fact that the situation in Madrid looks exceptional, the problem of renting housing is relevant for most European capitals. What causes the difficulties with housing in European countries and how they are trying to solve them — in the "Izvestia" material.

Three whales of the housing crisis

• Most European capitals are facing an acute shortage of supply in the housing market due to the fact that the pace of construction is significantly lagging behind the pace of population growth in large cities. In particular, Berlin, which was named the "startup capital" in 2025, is facing a shortage of residential real estate and rising rental payments. The emergence of new companies provokes the demand for labor, and with the influx of specialists to the capital, the demand for housing is also growing.

• In cities such as Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon, rental fees can significantly exceed the average income. At the same time, the most expensive rental in Europe is in London, where it is over €3,000 per month (the average cost of a two—bedroom apartment with one bedroom). Paris is in second place in terms of the high cost of housing. The problem of expensive rentals is directly related to the shortage of housing, but if in Spain and Portugal the shortage is caused by the influx of tourists, which makes renting unaffordable for local residents, then in London and Paris high rental rates are provoked by the growing demand for housing among well-paid workers and students.

Dolgostroyotryad: more than half of Russian developers miss deadlines

Buyers are moving into ready-made housing, and developers are facing an increase in debt burden and problems with escrow accounts.

• The influx of migrants creates tension in the cheap housing market. Spain experienced a powerful wave of migration in 2023-2024, mainly from Colombia, Peru and Venezuela: at that time, foreigners made up a quarter of the country's population. Capitals are experiencing the greatest burden from migration, as arrivals are more likely to settle in large cities, where it is easier to find high-income jobs, infrastructure is well developed, and national diasporas often already exist. High competition in the cheap rental market forces some tenants to move to more expensive segments, and as a result of this pressure, rental rates are rising in all housing categories.

Housing market regulation

• Attempts to regulate the housing market are not working well without increasing construction. Even in Scandinavian countries, where the social real estate sector is developed and the government restricts rents to protect citizens, the housing crisis affects invited professionals, who find it much more difficult to find a rented apartment, and the conditions of employment are often worse than those of the local population.

• In Sweden, the rental market is mainly represented by municipal housing companies, and rents are set as a result of negotiations between landlords and the tenants' association. When choosing a rental rate, the apartment's features, location, environment, and quality of property management are taken into account. These are perhaps the most comfortable rental conditions in Europe, but they do not solve the problem of limited supply: the Swedish capital is already experiencing a shortage of housing, and by 2030 the population of Stockholm is projected to increase by more than 600 thousand people.

• Denmark, where 39% of the population lived in rented apartments in 2024, also has a developed social housing sector. At the same time, the most comfortable conditions for rent and protection from eviction exist in the old housing stock, and in new buildings, rental rates are close to market prices. But there is also a shortage in the apartment rental market in the Danish capital. The European Commission notes that restrictions on the construction of commercial real estate, steady housing demand and low interest rates have not helped the Danish construction industry to provide a supply that would meet the growing demand. In June 2026, the European Commission named the problem of housing affordability as one of the reasons for the growth of social inequality.

The reason for the Madrid precedent

• The story of Maricarmen Abascal has become an example of social injustice, when vulnerable segments of the population become victims of large corporations. Urbagestion Desarrollo e Inversiones S.L., which bought a residential block in the center of Madrid from the previous owners, set an unaffordable rental rate for the pensioner: even after it was almost halved to €1.65 thousand, the amount exceeded Maricarmen's pension (€1.35 thousand) and turned out to be more than three times the previous rent (€500). The Spanish law "On the right to housing" of 2023 protects vulnerable categories of the population for whom rented housing is the only one, but in this case it did not help.

Miracle Island: Alla Pugacheva turned out to be the owner of a business in Cyprus

Two firms and real estate worth millions of euros: what assets of the star couple were discovered by Izvestia

• The eviction of Maricarmen Abascal was to some extent the result of the Spanish government's attempts to overcome the crisis in the rental market. The fact is that in 1994 Spain began to tighten legislation to address the imbalance in rental housing, where practical perpetual renta antigua ("old lease") contracts were in effect until 1985 with the rate below the market, while new housing was not being built enough and the tension in the market was growing. The law has limited the right to subrogate (extend) renta antigua. Since Marikarmen's mother used this right after her husband's death, the pensioner could no longer claim the previous lease terms, and this allowed the corporation to challenge the legality of her tenant status.

• The Madrid municipal authorities were unable to help the pensioner find a new home. The dormitory room they offered, 30 km from their former home, would have taken almost the entire pension of Marikarmen Abascal: rent is € 1.2 thousand per month. After seven years of litigation in an attempt to defend her right to housing, the pensioner was evicted from her home.: According to press reports, she was sheltered by her relatives.