Deals
Blackstone Hit by Spain Rental Cap as Populists Push Agenda
- Steps to rein in booming rents take effect ahead of elections
- Government’s decree makes rentals a riskier bet for investors
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A bid to rein in booming home rentals is under way in Spain where the politics of populism is helping to set terms for the real estate market.
Just weeks before Spain holds elections, the Socialist government limited rent increases to the inflation rate in new contracts for the country’s six million apartments. The emergency decree threw a curve ball to investors including Blackstone Group, which has spent billions of dollars acquiring property in a bet on the recovery of the real estate market after Spain’s 2012 financial crash.