Soller facing housing shortage: When neighbors can no longer find a home

How long can Soller still hold on to its people? When a neighbor can no longer find a home

Early in the morning, when the bells of Iglesia Sant Bartomeu are still echoing and the Plaça Constitució smells of fresh coffee and warm bread, life runs as usual — at first glance. The Ferrocarril rattles full of commuters into the mountains, the tram whistles up from the port. Yet under the sun another reality emerges: households doing the sums, tradespeople planning the rest of the month after pay, and more and more listings that start at around €1,500 per month. The key question remains: How can Soller remain livable for those who work and want to grow up here?

What the numbers show — and hide

Researchers and local data analysts examined nearly 950 rental contracts. A model would set around €976 for a 96 m² apartment in the centre, and just under €966 for 84 m² in the harbour area. Theory: roughly €900 on average. Practice: offers start at €1,500 — not an outlier, but the new norm. Within a decade property prices rose by about 182 percent, while wages increased by only around 29 percent. You feel it in the alleys: boarded-up old windows next to flawlessly renovated holiday apartments.

Everyday life complains

At the market among orange stalls, the cries of seagulls and the chatter of tourists, vendors say they have to live elsewhere because they can no longer afford Soller. A young bricklayer says he counts every euro before thinking about having children. An older woman who has been sweeping the plaza for decades has lost three neighbors in two years. “For many here, affordable housing is simply out of reach,” says a local geographer who analysed the data. This is more than statistics: it is the loss of social networks, spontaneous help with carrying shopping, shared dinners — things that hold the place together.

Why simple answers are not enough

The call to classify the area as a strained housing market keeps cropping up. It is an instrument, but not a cure-all. Rent caps alone fall short when housing is simultaneously converted into holiday apartments, existing stock stands empty and speculative purchases dominate the market. Equally crucial are less discussed aspects: lack of controls on short-term rentals, opaque ownership structures, seasonal demand, the basic needs of seasonal workers and the tax logic that makes short-term letting more attractive than long-term rentals to locals.

Levers that promise to work — but not without courage

Soller is discussing various measures. Some are already known, others are too rarely elaborated in the debate:

1. Rental and vacancy registers: A reliable data basis is a prerequisite. Only those who know which apartments are truly vacant or repeatedly offered as holiday lets can act in a targeted way.

2. Tax differentiation: Higher charges on permanently vacant or exclusively tourist-used properties; tax relief for owners who rent long-term to local families. That would shift economic incentives towards permanent use.

3. Renovation grants for existing stock: Funds for the repair of old apartments, linked to occupancy commitments for locals. This preserves facades, cobblestones and the social fabric.

4. Municipal intermediary renting and buybacks: If the municipality selectively buys properties or offers them under intermediary leases, pressure can be eased in the short term — especially for workers in care, hospitality or retail.

5. Regulation and enforcement for short-term letting: A transparent licensing system prioritising locals, stronger controls and clear sanctions against illegal listings. Without enforcement every rule remains just a piece of paper at town hall.

6. Cooperative housing models: Building groups and housing cooperatives can create affordable housing in the long term. This, however, requires support in accessing land, financing and bureaucratic hurdles.

The difficult political balance

All of these instruments touch on property rights, tourist revenues and local jobs. Too harsh regulation could reduce income in the short term; too soft a policy risks destroying the social substance of the town. That is why a package of short-term relief and long-term structural changes is needed, backed by clear data, citizen participation and political backbone. Those who only write appeals will watch the bakery next door slowly close because the owner had to move to a cheaper village.

What is often missing from the debate

We speak too little about seasonal housing solutions for harvest and seasonal workers, about childcare and mobility that make affordable housing possible in the first place. Psychological costs are also missing: people who lose their neighbourhoods take part less often in community work, clubs and volunteering. The tram’s noise then becomes only background music to a town without those who fill it with life every day.

A prospect that must not be naive

Soller is beautiful — anyone who has looked from the mirador knows that. But a postcard motive alone is not enough. Bold decisions are required: a rental register, tax steering, municipal purchase initiatives, supportive social services and strict control of short-term rentals. Only then will the town remain not just photogenic, but livable for people who work here, raise children and run the orange stalls.

In the evening, when the sun casts long shadows over the cobblestones and the tram chugs whistling into the harbour, decisions should not wait. Those who want to act in Soller must start now — with instruments that protect more than just prices.