Generalitat Valenciana

The Generalitat Valenciana is the autonomous-community government of the Valencian Community, a Mediterranean coastal region in eastern Spain comprising the provinces of Valencia, Alicante, and Castellon. It is a distinct institution from the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's equivalent body); the two share the historical Catalan name for their regional governments but exercise authority over separate territories. The Valencian institution operates under a statute of autonomy and holds competence over housing, urban planning, tourism licensing, and regional economic policy. On 25 May 2026 it enacted Spain's strictest short-term rental (STR) limits: a 2% cap on tourist apartments per neighbourhood, an 8% cap on total accommodation capacity across the region, and a 15% cap on ground-floor units.

Valencia had been under particular pressure from non-resident foreign buyers, who accounted for roughly 40% of all non-resident purchases in Spain in the second half of 2025 and paid EUR 3,242 per square metre against EUR 1,839 for Spanish nationals. The regional government's STR caps were framed as a housing-access measure, aimed at restoring residential availability in tourist-saturated neighbourhoods rather than punishing any specific nationality of buyer or renter. The Generalitat has historically used its tourism and urban-planning competences to regulate the accommodation market but the May 2026 rules represent its most restrictive deployment of those powers.

The practical effectiveness of the caps depends on enforcement, which across Spain has consistently lagged behind the pace of legislation. The national Madrid EUR 64 million Airbnb fine has had no substantive hearing set by the courts, a pattern the Valencian caps may replicate at the regional level. Whether the 2% neighbourhood ceiling leads to licence cancellations or simply stops new registrations will determine whether existing STR supply shrinks or merely plateaus.