Evictions for unpaid rent in the judicial district of Palma (Majorca, Spain): A metropolitan perspective

Abstract

The bursting of the housing bubble (2007) and the economic crisis brought to light many problems in Spanish cities, and intensified urban inequality dynamics that had remained relatively camouflaged during the long period of economic bonanza. These phenomena have been studied in Spain and Palma in recent years, where dispossession in housing has become one of the main ways to intensify the process of capital accumulation through rent-seeking (via gentrification and destitution). On an island specialising so heavily in tourism real estate, this type of analysis is particularly interesting insofar as land prices here are particularly high and the territory is subject to much speculative pressure. In this context, this article aims to look into evictions within the metropolitan area of Palma—an area with major internal differences, including income. The period of analysis runs from the property bubble (2003–2007) to the Great Recession (2007–2014) and differentiates between evictions for unpaid rent and mortgage foreclosures. The work demonstrates how these two types of evictions serve as indicators of different social and urban processes, show different patterns of behaviour depending on the income level in the area and, in short, play different roles in the processes of impoverishment and gentrification.