Residents in Majorca have warned second-home estate agencies to leave the island as tensions over housing rise. SOS Tourism warned the Balearic Association of National and International Real Estate Agencies (ABINI) that residents "no longer want you" and they should stop operating on the island.

A letter sent to the association, which represents some high-end estate agencies, stated: "Every luxury villa sold to a millionaire, a retiree, or a foreign family means a local family without a home ... The residents of Mallorca no longer want you." It added: "Do business in your own home."

The warning follows a year of widespread protests against overtourism and second-home ownership in the Canary Islands.

Majorcan residents have claimed locals were being priced out of home ownership due to investors buying large numbers of the housing stock, many of which are used as holiday lets, which they said has destroyed the sense of community and culture.

"Every agency that advertises 'the Mediterranean paradise' in London, Berlin, or New York fuels gentrification and expels those who have lived here all their lives," the letter added.

The residents' group claimed that for decades, the island had been "treated like a commodity" which came at a cost locals could "no longer afford".

It also claimed "economic and demographic colonisation", adding there were "neighbourhoods and municipalities where the local language and way of life have been replaced by an imported model, far removed from our reality".

It added: "You may have the money to buy here, but understand one thing: you do not have our welcome. Mallorca is more than an amusement park for the rich. This island is not a financial product. Do business in your own home and leave us alone. The people of Mallorca will no longer be silent."

ABINI has previously come under attack from tourism activists, with graffiti sprayed on the windows of several real estate agencies in Majorca earlier this year.

At the time it defended the sector, saying: "These attacks falsely accuse the real estate sector of being responsible for the housing emergency in the Balearic Islands."

It added: "Real estate professionals are not the problem, but part of the solution. We have been the first to step forward and face the housing emergency situation head-on."

It attributed the housing emergency to "slow execution" of public housing, regulations that prevent new projects, a "lack of planning", and state laws, all of which it said it had been warning about for years.