Housing has been an unsolvable conundrum for successive governments in Spain, which remains scarred by a 2008 property market crash that accompanied the global recession.

The price of a square metre for rent has soared by 82 percent over the past 10 years, according to online property platform Idealista.

That increase comfortably outstripped average wages, which only creeped up by 17 percent in the same time, according to Spain’s national statistics institute, making finding a home mission impossible for low-income households.

“Finding a place to rent has now become a minefield, especially for the young”

“There is hardly any supply, and when there is, the prices are sky high.”

But since the Covid-19 pandemic, the crisis has become “unsustainable”, 24-year-old Juan Lozano told AFP.