IMMIGRANTS WITH MONEY

Mexico City and Lisbon: Two cities where wealthy digital nomads infuriate the locals over spiralling housing costs

By The Immigrant Times

Residents in Mexico City and Lisbon protest against short-term rentals, which they say drive up housing costs. (Photo: Jon Orbach/AP)

Mexico City

September 2025: On 4 July 2025, while Americans celebrated independence, hundreds of Mexico City residents took to the streets chanting ‘Fuera Gringo!’ - 'Gringos Out!’. The protest, timed symbolically, was a visceral response to a growing crisis: the influx of wealthy US immigrants reshaping the city’s cultural and economic landscape.

Since the pandemic, Mexico City has become a magnet for American digital nomads, remote workers, and lifestyle migrants. Drawn by low living costs, vibrant culture, and lenient visa policies, many settle in trendy enclaves like Roma and Condesa. But their arrival has triggered a wave of gentrification that’s pricing out long-term residents and igniting social unrest.

The anger is not just rhetorical. Protesters smashed windows of boutiques and cafés catering to foreigners, spray-painted anti-American graffiti, and called out Airbnb-style rentals for driving up housing costs. One protest sign read ‘You’re a coloniser, not a fucking expat. Go home’. At least 15 businesses were damaged during the 4th July march.

Locals report being pushed out of their homes as rents soar. Traditional businesses—tortillerías, corner stores, family-run eateries—are replaced by matcha bars, boutique gyms, and English-speaking coworking spaces. The city’s identity is being rebranded for a global elite.

The backlash has sparked a broader debate: Is this migration, or is it economic colonisation? While some Americans make efforts to integrate, learning Spanish, supporting local initiatives, many remain insulated in expat bubbles, contributing to what activists call ‘cultural displacement’.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada has proposed a 14-point plan to regulate rents and expand affordable housing. But critics call it a ‘palliative’ measure, arguing it fails to address the root causes of displacement. The country’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, condemned the violence and warned against xenophobia, saying, “No one should be told to leave our country, even over a legitimate problem like gentrification”.

Activists disagree. Eduardo Alanís of the Anti-Gentrification Front responded, “We’re not against immigrants. We’re against a system that lets wealth dictate who belongs.”

Lisbon

Mexico City isn’t alone. Lisbon, once hailed as Europe’s digital nomad capital, is now grappling with its own backlash. Between 2021 and 2024, rents in central Lisbon rose by more than 65 per cent, driven largely by remote workers from the US, UK, and Germany flocking to scenic neighbourhoods like Alfama and Graça. Portugal’s digital nomad visa, introduced in 2022, made relocation easy, but the social cost has been steep.

“They put too much money in these things, and at the same time we can’t live in the city anymore,” said a Lisbon teacher protesting outside the Web Summit tech fair.

Despite municipal efforts to regulate Airbnbs and short-term rentals, local residents say the city’s infrastructure and housing stock are buckling under the pressure. Much like Mexico City, Lisbon’s charm is being commodified, its cobblestone streets and pastel facades now backdrops for Instagram reels and start-up pitches.

Both cities face a similar dilemma: how to welcome newcomers without erasing the communities that made them desirable in the first place. And in both, the line between migration and economic colonisation grows increasingly blurred.

Further reading: President Trump favours immigrants with money over those with skills ||

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