After 35 years as an estate agent in the Balearic archipelago, Natalia Bueno is turning her back on Majorca because of rising prices and overcrowding. She will instead move to Galicia, the northwesternmost region on the Spanish mainland, as she says she “can’t take it anymore.”
“I’m suffering from real estate pressure, and buying a rural property is beyond my purchasing power,” Ms Bueno explained, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin. “I’m also overwhelmed by overcrowding. So I’m leaving.” She is convinced that many Majorcans will soon be doing the same and that there will be an exodus of islanders to the mainland in the future.
“I love the Balearic Islands very much. I’ve lived here for almost 30 years,” she added.
However, she said she would not be surprised if there were a “real-estate alliance” between Majorca and northern Spain.
Ms Bueno currently lives in a rented house in Lloseta, a small town located in the Riaguer district of central Majorca. The property is now up for sale. It was once valued at €400,000 (just under £338,300), but prices have now soared.
Being from the countryside, moving to an apartment is not an option, so instead she is escaping to “empty Spain”, the local media site reported.
Rising prices are not the only reason Ms Bueno is making the move. Overcrowding on the popular tourist island has also played a significant role.
“You have to think carefully about where you go if it’s a cloudy day,” she said. ” In summer, I know that if I don’t make a reservation at a restaurant, I won’t eat.
” Not being able to move affects your work and personal life.”
Other nationalities, with more money to spend, are buying up properties, too: “There are Germans who now buy apartments in Son Gotleu (Palma) as investment,” she added. “Their income is three times ours.”
“The real estate sector is a refuge; it’s the goose that lays the golden eggs. If my neighbour rents out for 1,000, I want more. And with all these rising prices, there are people who end up on the street. In the end, tenants are paying the owners’ mortgages.
“Those who can’t pay [€600 a month for a room] are forced into shanty towns and camper vans. And this problem will only get worse,” she warns.
When she moves, Ms Bueno plans to open an agrotourism hotel in the town of Viveiro, Lugo. The hotel will allow guests to experience rural life in northern Spain, far from the chaos of Majorca.