Protesters in Málaga and Cádiz march against soaring rents and low wages as Andalusia’s housing crisis deepens

Rallies across Andalusia

Simultaneous protests in Málaga, Cádiz and Córdoba marked the fourth mobilisation against the housing crisis that has gripped the Costa del Sol and beyond. In Málaga, organisers put the crowd at more than 25,000, while a separate march in Cádiz drew around 500 people. The slogan common to all gatherings was “ni alquileres por las nubes ni salarios por los suelos”, neither sky‑high rents nor rock‑bottom wages.

The Málaga demonstration departed from Plaza de la Merced, a neighbourhood where 81 % of homes are holiday lets, and wound through the historic centre to Plaza de la Constitución. It was the fourth major rally called by the platform Málaga para Vivir since June 2024, part of what participants called an escalating “cycle of struggles” that will continue until structural change is achieved.

Málaga’s spiral and the call for a general strike

Lula Mir, a spokesperson for the organisers, told reporters that the housing crisis had reached a breaking point.

The housing crisis has touched every aspect of life, it is destroying the territory, and residents are being expelled while big investors cash in.

The platform announced it is opening a process towards a general strike on housing, complaining that institutions know how to regulate rents but are failing to act. Alberto Martín added that the “touristification” of the housing stock is pushing neighbours further and further out, and that self‑organisation was now the only way forward.

The numbers behind the anger

Data from the Ministry of Housing show the national average price reached €2,315 per square metre in the first quarter of 2026, up 13.9 % on the same period a year earlier. In Málaga province the figure hit €2,988/m² (a 14.2 % year‑on‑year rise) while Cádiz reached €1,988/m² (up 13.4 %). Even relatively modest Córdoba recorded €1,285/m², a 10.7 % increase. The tension is particularly acute in Málaga, where a Bank of Spain report last year noted that a first home now costs ten years of net salary, compared with a national average of 6.8 years.

Rents have been climbing for a decade: between 2015 and 2024 they rose 32.7 % in Málaga and 23.03 % across Andalusia as a whole, according to the National Statistics Institute.

Cádiz and Córdoba add their voices

In Cádiz, the 12:00 march from Plaza de San Antonio to Plaza de San Juan de Dios was led by the Sindicato de Inquilinas. Spokesperson María Sánchez pointed to the historic centre’s loss of a quarter of its population over the last 20 years, driven by the proliferation of tourist apartments.

Cádiz is not a paradise for speculators and rentiers. Housing is a right, not a luxury.

She demanded prices aligned with wages and an end to the “legal fraud” of temporary rental contracts. Córdoba’s 19:30 rally was to follow, closing a day of coordinated action that organisers say will not be the last.