Empty Spain: rural exodus leaves property market in flux as foreigners move in

SPAIN’S rural heartlands are hollowing out. As young people migrate to cities and northern European ‘snowbirds’ snap up second homes, villages are left teetering on the edge of extinction.

When Diego Yuste became mayor of Tragacete, a mountain town in Cuenca, in 2019, the population was in steady decline. Like many rural areas, Tragacete lacked the basic facilities needed to sustain life: schools, health centres, even a post office. Without people, they closed. Without housing, people couldn’t return.

Yuste saw potential in disused buildings – former Guardia Civil barracks and old teachers’ houses – transforming them into public rental housing. With ten units renovated, the town has seen a small but vital resurgence. The local school now has eight pupils, up from just two.

Diego Yuste. Credit: Diputacion de Cuenca

“I’m always in favour of social housing,” says Yuste. “People don’t come and buy immediately. They rent, try it out. Then they commit.”

But across Spain’s interior, housing shortages are strangling revitalisation. The rural rental market is almost non-existent. Many homes lie empty most of the year, owned by foreign retirees who only visit seasonally.

Jesús Patón, a 48-year-old resident in one of Tragacete’s public units, says locals are being priced out. “Everything’s going to second homes and tourist properties. For those of us who want to live here, there’s nothing.”

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The 2019 rise of Teruel Existe, a political party born from rural protest, highlighted these issues nationally. Others, like Manifiesto por Cuenca, have called for reform to support rural renters and restore vacant homes.

“There’s no widespread homelessness,” says economist Soledad Morales, “but in some areas, finding a rental is like striking gold.”

There’s no quick fix. But for now, driven local leaders—and bold housing policy—may be Empty Spain’s best hope of survival and regeneration.