Related news: Mallorca housing: The concerns for social conflict

Last week, a video created by a group of residents in Sencelles went viral on social networks. Young people, middle-aged people, older people; ordinary people whose message was - "They are throwing us out of our homes, out of our town and eventually out of Mallorca, because we cannot afford housing due to the constant increases in the price of rents and homes ."

The Banc de Temps collective was set up some 14 years ago; it has always been a sort of self-help group. The video that appeared last Tuesday was designed to raise people's awareness about the housing problem. Among other messages was this: "We have to be aware of the consequences of selling houses to tourists , they raise rents and prices in restaurants, all this is driving us out of our land."

The protests in the Canaries a fortnight ago certainly did not go unnoticed in Mallorca. While it has been noted that there are differences between the Canaries and the Balearics - a higher rate of poverty in the Canaries, for instance - there are also great similarities, e.g. the dependence on tourism and the advance of the holiday rental. There are concerns that Mallorca could witness its own protests and social conflict .

The Sencelles video is proof of the fact that the housing problem doesn't only affect those with the least resources; it has become a middle-class issue as well. It is increasingly impossible to pay what is being demanded.

Colonia Sant Pere is a very different place to Sencelles. Originally one of the farming colonies established in Mallorca in the second half of the nineteenth century, it is a place long linked to tourism and one to have experienced its share of gentrification.

Oriol Ducable is a baker who is urgently looking for a home. His wife is the local librarian. They have four children. " Teleworking is the big problem . Young foreign couples come with their children and stay because it is paradise, receiving their salaries from northern Europe. There is nothing for less than 1,200 euros and they will only rent it out from October to May." Summer prices are stratospheric . "We are considering leaving the island. Next to my bakery there is an estate agency and foreigners keep going in to look at properties. You feel like a fool." In Colonia Sant Pere, a hundred houses valued at more than a million euros are being built.

Colonia Sant Pere is just one example. Vilafranca has been described as being like "the Palace of Versailles", such are some prices for rent. In Ses Salines , a property that cost 600 euros five years ago is now 1,900 euros. A resident notes: "On my street there are more German licence plates than Spanish ones."

Carme Reynés, one of the people behind the Banc de Temps video, says: "There are many middle-class people who are not going to inherit. In Sencelles there were 77 holiday rental homes in 2014. This year there are 165. The island is becoming a luxury resort . In Sencelles we have three estate agencies and there are no stores left. There are foreign cars - Ferrari, Tesla, Porsche. At one time we found them curious, now they only provoke anger."

Luis Alfonso Escudero Gómez, professor of Human Geography at the University of the Balearic Islands, says that a phenomenon in Formentera and Ibiza was transferred to Palma and now extends to the towns and villages of Mallorca. "R eactions on social media are not surprising. They are a consequence of tourist overcrowding that has been lengthened by climate change, with shorter winters."

The second homes of Europeans, tourist homes, boutique hotels and agrotourism have all affected residents of the island. In his opinion, "social demonstrations will become widespread". He foresees "a very serious social outbreak" . "There will be a point of great social pressure and politicians will have to look for a solution."

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