Barcelona leads the rise in rental prices in Catalonia with an average that has risen to 1,123 euros during the second quarter of this year. This record figure represents an increase of 12.7% compared to the same period last year and drags up the average in Catalonia, which stands at 830 euros between April 1 and 30 June, which means an increase of 9.7%. At the same time, the number of signed contracts fell by 10.3%.
The average rental price has increased in all districts of Barcelona in a generalized way. So, between April and June the average price in the Eixample has reached 1,276 euros, when between January and March the average was 1,214 euros. In Les Corts the price has gone from 1,190 euros to 1,272, and in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, from 1,442 to 1,553 euros.
According to these data, which are taken from the deposits deposited at the Catalan Soil Institute (Incasòl), the rent price is still below one thousand euros in three districts: in Horta-Guinardó (which despite this has gone from an average of 881 euros during the first quarter to 909 euros during the second), Nou Barris (779 euros) and Sant Andreu (877 euros).
The upward trend in prices during the second quarter accentuates the increase that had been recorded since January. For this reason, the Minister of Territorial Affairs, Ester Capella, once again demanded yesterday from the acting Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, the application of the Spanish Housing Law: “Without this law the market continues to run wild”.
Capella compared the figures from January to June 2013 with those of this year to point out that “the price of rental housing has risen by 43.6% in Catalonia and by 62.1% in Barcelona” and added that “there is no society that can resist this increase, because no one in this country has seen their salary increase in the same proportion”. The councilor also demanded that the Spanish Government give “for free” a part of the Sareb housing stock to allocate it to affordable rent and stated that in the coming weeks the Government will explain the deadlines for complying with the announcement of put more than 10,000 social rental homes on the market in three years.
Regarding the escalation of prices, following the lack of supply and strong demand, the manager of the Chamber of Property of Barcelona, ??Òscar Gorgues, maintains that “as long as people can pay, prices will rise; what has failed is the public housing policy”. For Gorgues, the drop in contracts is influenced by the fact that a percentage of owners are extending them, and the change in regulations in 2019, when contracts went from three to five years.
The Tenants’ Union yesterday demanded the regulation of the market and attributed the drop in contracts to the proliferation of “seasonal contracts, which are not declared to the Incasòl”.
