Housing in Seville: a luxury no longer for living

Published on May 30, 2026 | Translated from Spanish

Caritas has hit the nail on the head: housing in Seville has gone from being a basic right to a luxury product that expels thousands of families. While dream-priced new-build apartments are being erected and public funds are being diverted, people are living in unventilated rooms or directly on the street. The contradiction is so evident it hurts.

Luxury glass apartment tower rising above cramped historic Sevilla rooftops, construction crane lifting a golden key instead of building materials, homeless family sleeping on cardboard below, contrast between modern glass facade and cracked traditional tiles, dramatic evening light casting long shadows, photorealistic architectural visualization, hyper-detailed textures, cinematic depth of field, urban inequality theme, warm sunset glow on new building while ground level fades into cold blue shadows, action of displacement shown through spatial composition, technical construction details visible in scaffolding and steel beams

Data and algorithms: how the rental bubble is cooked 📊

Tourist rental platforms and dynamic pricing algorithms have turned the center of Seville into a theme park for investors. Meanwhile, the construction of public housing (VPO) stagnates at 2% of all new homes. Speculation feeds on data: the average rental price has risen by 40% in five years, and the supply of affordable apartments has halved. You don't need to be an engineer to see that the problem is one of design, not chance.

Magic solution: a luxury apartment and a tent as a gift 🏕️

The proposal from some politicians is brilliant: build more luxury apartments so that, by a domino effect, the poor can rent a closet. Meanwhile, the realistic solution involves limiting prices, building public housing, and fining speculators. But of course, that doesn't sell as well as promising a penthouse with views of the Giralda and ending up sleeping on a bench in Aljarafe.