I love the story at the end about the climbing gym. You must have known it was there before you bought right?
I witnessed a similar tension living in the southern pacific zone of Costa Rica. This was a region that didn’t have a two lane paved road to it from a major city until 2010.
With the road came more tourists. But also more expats from the US, Canada and Europe (including our family).
With the expats came a lot of new construction- big homes on the mountains, more cars on the dirt roads. They built new private schools, more roads were paved, food prices rose and rent climbed 150% in our time there.
The new construction brought work for some builders, hardware stores, lawyers and real estate agents (most of whom were expats themselves). This kind of economic benefit is not as broadly shared in an economy geared towards tourism. And taxes paid by expats are relatively low despite what some will say.
During and post Covid brought a new wave (particularly Canadian libertarians with money) into a collectively minded society of Costa Ricans. More houses. More $30k side-by-side ATVs with racing stripes.
Despite their financial investments, these expats did not always last. The remoteness, the lack of “creature comforts” made it a one to two year experience for many.
Someone once told me “The jungle always wins”. It always grows back, it can’t be conquered, it’s too vast and persistent. But it seems the outside world is putting up a good effort to change it.
I love that corner of the world, made deep connections and found a community despite all the changes. Our children were raised there and are fluent in Spanish. I’ll always go back to it.
Indeed, I did know about the climbing center before buying, but I'd never been. (I'd been climbing at the commercial gyms in the newer parts of the city).
The answer to the world's housing problem lies in Singapore. There housing is divided into two legal titles: HDB and private. HDB housing is for nationals only and works almost as a communist style system prohibiting sublets and allowing only owners to live in their properties. There are strict anti speculation measures e.g you cannot resell before 5 years. The other 50% of the housing market is private with very few restrictions and where buying and selling is easy. This system works better than any other system I have seen.
In Spain, the ghost of the fascist regime still shapes the political views of many, making their decisions at the polls, and beyond, highly emotional. This makes having nuanced conversations extremely difficult, as people are often tightly bound to their beliefs, which are frequently the product of family traditions, and not very open to dialogue on difficult topics like this one.
I believe this, combined with years of political circus, empty promises, and plans that never come to fruition, is what leads people to go for the easy fixes, as you mentioned, because it literally fills a void created by continuous disappointment in our politicians. I am in no way justifying it; I firmly believe it is our responsibility to stay informed in order to exercise critical thinking. But there comes a point where you genuinely feel like it doesn’t matter what you think or do, because the promises always remain unfulfilled.
In any case, I believe there’s one point you may not be taking into consideration. Another commenter shared her experience in the UK versus Barcelona and said it was worse here. While everything she said was true, there’s a key difference we’re overlooking: language.
If you know English, you’ll have no problem living in the UK, obviously. But living in Spain requires you to speak Spanish. And if you live in Barcelona, most locals would agree that you should also speak Catalan. I see every day how many “expats” refuse to even try, because they feel they don’t actually need to. I’ve been in stores and cafés where the clerk didn’t speak Spanish or Catalan, and that goes far beyond the housing crisis. It creates a lot of friction between locals and foreigners.
As a local myself, I try very hard to be critical and keep my emotions aside. I don’t like resenting people just because they weren’t born in the same city as me, people who are simply taking opportunities I would take in a heartbeat if I were in their position. But it is disheartening to know that I don’t have access to those same opportunities. This is a problem that runs deep in our system, and that’s why people feel so strongly about it.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Natalia. The language thing is deserving of its own discussion, but as a general rule I think people immigrating to a country should absolutely learn the language. I've heard of expats living in Spain for five years who STILL don't know even Spanish.
Catalunya is an interesting case where one can learn this major world language (Spanish) that everyone here speaks, but it's actually NOT the native language. My feeling is you ultimately need to learn both if you plan to settle here long term. After improving my Spanish a bit more I'll get to Catalan, which I'm already trying to listen to and understand.
No one is engaging mentally with the actual problems and actual solutions, or any data analysis of other cities... if they were, they would not be putting in rent control and they'd be building furiously.... but this is a prevalent phenomenon in Western Cities
Here in Barcelona, it's exacerbated by excruciatingly low increases in wages in the last few decades
I've had these conversations with my Bulgarian friends living in Barcelona. All of us have also lived in England. Here's the thing. Both Bulgaria and England face the exact same problem in their capital cities - locals cannot buy or rent at affordable prices. And guess what? Tourism and expats are not the cause. Banks, developers, landlords, high demand outstripping supply and pure greed are the problem. None of us blames that on migrants. Tourists and nomads don't buy properties, and they don't rent long-term.
Oh, and by the way, Catalan landlords rent out ratholes without basic amenities for exorbitant amounts, never fix anything, but demand rental prices double what they were a few years ago. Just think about the 11-month rental that allows them to make more money off tenants. I have never seen this anywhere else I have lived in Europe. Everywhere else, rentals offer decent living conditions.
Oh, and by the way, my friends and I are Eastern Europeans who came to Western Europe to work and have a chance at a better life. So, nobody can tell me that every migrant/expat/nomad is a leech. Nobody can check how much money you earn before they decide to sell or rent out to you at crazy prices. That's a fact.
Majority of people still think building new luxury apartments raises housing prices. I honestly don’t think this will be solved in our lifetime. It is noble for you to participate in the free market as much as possible.
I love the story at the end about the climbing gym. You must have known it was there before you bought right?
I witnessed a similar tension living in the southern pacific zone of Costa Rica. This was a region that didn’t have a two lane paved road to it from a major city until 2010.
With the road came more tourists. But also more expats from the US, Canada and Europe (including our family).
With the expats came a lot of new construction- big homes on the mountains, more cars on the dirt roads. They built new private schools, more roads were paved, food prices rose and rent climbed 150% in our time there.
The new construction brought work for some builders, hardware stores, lawyers and real estate agents (most of whom were expats themselves). This kind of economic benefit is not as broadly shared in an economy geared towards tourism. And taxes paid by expats are relatively low despite what some will say.
During and post Covid brought a new wave (particularly Canadian libertarians with money) into a collectively minded society of Costa Ricans. More houses. More $30k side-by-side ATVs with racing stripes.
Despite their financial investments, these expats did not always last. The remoteness, the lack of “creature comforts” made it a one to two year experience for many.
Someone once told me “The jungle always wins”. It always grows back, it can’t be conquered, it’s too vast and persistent. But it seems the outside world is putting up a good effort to change it.
I love that corner of the world, made deep connections and found a community despite all the changes. Our children were raised there and are fluent in Spanish. I’ll always go back to it.
I do hope the jungle keeps winning.
Indeed, I did know about the climbing center before buying, but I'd never been. (I'd been climbing at the commercial gyms in the newer parts of the city).
The answer to the world's housing problem lies in Singapore. There housing is divided into two legal titles: HDB and private. HDB housing is for nationals only and works almost as a communist style system prohibiting sublets and allowing only owners to live in their properties. There are strict anti speculation measures e.g you cannot resell before 5 years. The other 50% of the housing market is private with very few restrictions and where buying and selling is easy. This system works better than any other system I have seen.
In Spain, the ghost of the fascist regime still shapes the political views of many, making their decisions at the polls, and beyond, highly emotional. This makes having nuanced conversations extremely difficult, as people are often tightly bound to their beliefs, which are frequently the product of family traditions, and not very open to dialogue on difficult topics like this one.
I believe this, combined with years of political circus, empty promises, and plans that never come to fruition, is what leads people to go for the easy fixes, as you mentioned, because it literally fills a void created by continuous disappointment in our politicians. I am in no way justifying it; I firmly believe it is our responsibility to stay informed in order to exercise critical thinking. But there comes a point where you genuinely feel like it doesn’t matter what you think or do, because the promises always remain unfulfilled.
In any case, I believe there’s one point you may not be taking into consideration. Another commenter shared her experience in the UK versus Barcelona and said it was worse here. While everything she said was true, there’s a key difference we’re overlooking: language.
If you know English, you’ll have no problem living in the UK, obviously. But living in Spain requires you to speak Spanish. And if you live in Barcelona, most locals would agree that you should also speak Catalan. I see every day how many “expats” refuse to even try, because they feel they don’t actually need to. I’ve been in stores and cafés where the clerk didn’t speak Spanish or Catalan, and that goes far beyond the housing crisis. It creates a lot of friction between locals and foreigners.
As a local myself, I try very hard to be critical and keep my emotions aside. I don’t like resenting people just because they weren’t born in the same city as me, people who are simply taking opportunities I would take in a heartbeat if I were in their position. But it is disheartening to know that I don’t have access to those same opportunities. This is a problem that runs deep in our system, and that’s why people feel so strongly about it.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Natalia. The language thing is deserving of its own discussion, but as a general rule I think people immigrating to a country should absolutely learn the language. I've heard of expats living in Spain for five years who STILL don't know even Spanish.
Catalunya is an interesting case where one can learn this major world language (Spanish) that everyone here speaks, but it's actually NOT the native language. My feeling is you ultimately need to learn both if you plan to settle here long term. After improving my Spanish a bit more I'll get to Catalan, which I'm already trying to listen to and understand.
No one is engaging mentally with the actual problems and actual solutions, or any data analysis of other cities... if they were, they would not be putting in rent control and they'd be building furiously.... but this is a prevalent phenomenon in Western Cities
Here in Barcelona, it's exacerbated by excruciatingly low increases in wages in the last few decades
I've had these conversations with my Bulgarian friends living in Barcelona. All of us have also lived in England. Here's the thing. Both Bulgaria and England face the exact same problem in their capital cities - locals cannot buy or rent at affordable prices. And guess what? Tourism and expats are not the cause. Banks, developers, landlords, high demand outstripping supply and pure greed are the problem. None of us blames that on migrants. Tourists and nomads don't buy properties, and they don't rent long-term.
Oh, and by the way, Catalan landlords rent out ratholes without basic amenities for exorbitant amounts, never fix anything, but demand rental prices double what they were a few years ago. Just think about the 11-month rental that allows them to make more money off tenants. I have never seen this anywhere else I have lived in Europe. Everywhere else, rentals offer decent living conditions.
Oh, and by the way, my friends and I are Eastern Europeans who came to Western Europe to work and have a chance at a better life. So, nobody can tell me that every migrant/expat/nomad is a leech. Nobody can check how much money you earn before they decide to sell or rent out to you at crazy prices. That's a fact.
i wonder if the stable equilibrium we've reached is just people like being grumpy and complaining about stuff
I wonder if it feels like a stable equilibrium to others...
Not that being grumpy and complaining about stuff isn't a time-honored stable equilibrium activity.
Majority of people still think building new luxury apartments raises housing prices. I honestly don’t think this will be solved in our lifetime. It is noble for you to participate in the free market as much as possible.