AS a generation of young Spaniards find themselves locked out of the property market, two German entrepreneurs have quietly built a sprawling tourist flat empire across Spain.
Munich-based businessmen Josef Vollmayr, 42, and Cesar de Sousa Freitas, 37, are the architects behind Limehome, a corporate behemoth that now controls more than 2,600 apartments across 20 Spanish cities.
It has prompted many to ask – how did two foreigners manage to hoover up thousands of homes in the middle of a historic housing shortage? By ruthlessly capitalising on a global crisis.
While ordinary buyers were paralysed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Limehome swooped in.
Rather than buying individual flats on the open market, the company struck massive corporate deals with investment funds and property developers.
They snapped up entire buildings on iron-clad, 20-to-25-year fixed leases, transforming them into lucrative apart-hotels and effectively ‘owning’ the rental rights for a generation.
In October 2022, Limehome raised a hefty €45 million from investors as part of a renewed growth push, according to a company statement.
Among the backers was Lakestar, the venture firm behind the rise of Revolut and Spotify.
Last year, a fresh cash injection led by London-based Cheyne Capital poured a further €75 million into Limehome’s coffers, as the company moved to expand its housing stock to around 10,000 flats in Spain alone, according to El Economista.
While that target is still some way off, Limehome believes Spain could eventually generate between €300 million and €500 million in annual revenue, the report added.
“Sometimes crises like the pandemic become an opportunity,” boasted Ricardo Fernandez, Limehome’s general director for Spain, in a recent interview with El Español.
But for local residents – who watched Spanish house prices surge by nearly 13% in late 2025 alone – that ‘opportunity’ looks a lot like exploitation.
The revelation of the German duo’s vast portfolio has sparked a furious backlash on social media, becoming a lightning rod for the nation’s boiling housing anger.
“Young Spaniards are forced to live with their parents, but two Germans can have 2,600 properties to speculate on. This is a broken country,” raged one viral user on X (formerly Twitter).
Another demanded draconian new laws: “I am increasingly in favour of strictly limiting home purchases by foreigners, including EU citizens: only one property allowed, clearly intended as a primary residence.”
While Limehome’s empire – currently spanning hotspots like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Sevilla and Granada – makes up just a fraction of Spain’s 330,000 tourist flats, it is the corporate, factory-scale nature of the operation that has touched a nerve.
And the duo are not stopping. Spain is already the company’s second-largest market behind Germany, with aggressive expansion plans targeting expat-heavy coastal hubs like Alicante and Almeria, alongside Pamplona, Cordoba and Bilbao.
It comes as authorities finally begin to wake up to the crisis. Last year, Spain ordered the removal of more than 65,000 illegal Airbnb listings, while cities like Barcelona have vowed to eradicate private short-term rentals entirely by 2028.
But with corporate operators like Limehome locking down entire buildings for the next quarter-century, the battle to return Spain’s housing market to the people is only just beginning.
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