(Bloomberg) -- Spain plans to end its so-called golden visa program for foreign property buyers in a bid to increase the amount of affordable housing available to locals.

The move will help ensure that “housing is a right and not just a mere speculative business,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters on Monday.

The program grants residence permits to non-European Union citizens who invest at least €500,000 ($543,000) in a house in Spain. Last year, Portugal followed Ireland in shutting down its golden visa program for real estate buyers. Both plans were popular with wealthy applicants from China.

Greece also announced plans in March to increase the minimum amount that potential foreign property buyers must pay to secure a golden visa, citing pressure on the country’s real estate and rental markets.

In a news conference on Tuesday following the Spanish government’s weekly cabinet meeting, Housing Minister Isabel Rodriguez said that the country expedited almost 14,600 golden visa linked to real estate investments between 2013 and 2023. 

Investors were mainly from China, Russia, the US and UK, Ukraine, Iran, Venezuela and Mexico. Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga were the three most popular spots for buyers. 

“Spain is an attractive country for foreign investors,” said Rodriguez, caveating that while the country wants to draw foreign capital, it also wants investors “to develop dwellings at an affordable price, to refurbish houses and ultimately to ensure the right to housing, as the government is doing.” 

Spain and a handful of other European countries launched their golden visa programs in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to try to help plug budget deficits with residency-for-sale programs. EU officials have long pressured governments to terminate these programs on the grounds that they’re anti-democratic and can serve as a means for dirty money to enter the region.

Home prices in Spain rose 7% in March from a year earlier, according to real estate website Idealista.

--With assistance from Ainhoa Goyeneche.

(Updates with details on Spain’s golden visa program, the housing minister’s remarks in fifth, sixth and seventh paragraphs.)

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