A year ago Catalonia decided to start regulating her rentals. Now it has something that seemed impossible: lower prices

In a context marked by the Price climbingrecord rents and a real estate market that Start nonsense With the costs prior to the 2008 brick crisis, Catalonia wanted to break yesterday with the bullish rhetoric. Their rentals are going down. And quite clear in addition. In the region as a whole, the leases cost today, on average, 4.7% less that a year ago, a decrease that reaches 8.9% If we talk about Barcelona. With that data, the Generalitat wants to breastfeed by the First year of price regulation in the 140 tension municipalities in which the Housing Law applies. What happened? That the Generalitat of Catalonia has just done something unusual in real estate information in recent years: to use a negative sign to talk about prices. According to The data broken down By the Minister of Territory and Housing, Sílvia Paneque, the average lease It has been cheaper In the region as a whole and, in a special way, in those municipalities in which the price regulation was applied a year ago under the protection of the state law Housing How much has it dropped? The information handled by paneque is based mainly on the Bail deposits And it shows the “photo” of the Catalan real estate market throughout the first quarter of the year, which allows analyzing how prices have evolved between the beginning of 2024 and 2025. Its first conclusion is that the whole of Catalonia the middle rent has experienced a year -on -year fall of 4.7%. If we look concretely in the 140 municipalities that declared tension markets in March 2024 And in which, therefore, prices were allowed to regulate in certain cases, the descent is somewhat more pronounced: reaches 4.9%. The big surprise leaves her specifically Barcelona. There the average cost of rentals has collapsed several more points, to mark an annual fall of the 8.9%. And how do contracts evolve? That is the second surprise that has left paneque. The counselor ensures that this price drop has not arrived accompanied by a contraction of the Catalan rental market. Moreover, according to your data in the first quarter of 2025, the number of lease contracts in force in the region has increased by 3,112. “It continues to grow, which tells us that the rental park increases,” defended The leader. He release Shared by the Generalitat does not allow, yes, to assess whether the rhythm of the new leases has risen or down the last year. What the counselor clarifies is that “a large part” of the contracts that were already in force have lengthened. Or what is the same, moves are reduced. The country Precise that in the tensioning municipalities the new contracts have decreased by 22%. How do you interpret the data? “We believe that the clarification in the contracts has helped to have these good data that allow us to say that there are 11,807 more homes for rent than a year ago,” celebrate The head of Housing, who points out that the majority (7,865 contracts) are concentrated in the 140 municipalities declared tension in 2024. In the Barcelona case, during the first quarter of 2025 the total number of rental homes has increased by 423. “There are 1,202 more households for rent than a year”, Apostille The Generalitat. Why is it important? Because beyond the implications it has for the Catalan real estate market and, specifically, the landlords and tenants of the region, the data presented by Paneque shows the practical effects of the regulation of rentals and the application of the housing law released to In March of 2024. Generalitat herself wanted to emphasize a message whose interest transcends its borders. After all, Catalonia was The only community that applied the law. “The data are good and show us that containment and legislative and regulatory measures help to guarantee the right to housing on this road until reaching a public park of 15%,” insisted The counselor of the branch. Are the first data known? No. Paneque is not the first to slide that idea. In Marchwhen an exact year of the application of the rental price index in 140 municipalities of Catalonia, Minister Isabel Rodríguez already claimed that the data in the region showed that “the Housing Law works”. By then the fall of the amount of leases in Catalonia it was 3.3%. In the city, the decrease reached 6.4%. Is it all positive? No. On Tuesday, Generalitat himself shared data that show a seasonal rental boom, a formula that is normally agreed for periods below the year and It allows to dodge The norm. If in 2019 it represented just 2.1% Of the rental floors announced in Barcelona, ​​in 2023 it already meant 14.4%. And the information revealed yesterday by Paneque suggests that they have gained weight in the community real estate market. The data handled by the Generalitat shows that 2,242 contracts Temporary of the first quarter of 2024 has passed, during the same period of 2025, to 3,415. In other words: the formula has experienced has increased considerable, from 52%, in just one year, gaining weight among the new contracts. During the first three months of last year, 6.1% of the new agreements signed in Catalonia were adjusted to that temporary modality. At the start of 2025 they already represented 11%. Aware of that accelerated boom, the Generalitat It has been proposed Limit prices in those seasonal rentals that have residential use, a decision that the Generalitat creates more justified than ever. And the rest of the contracts? The counselor He celebrated yesterday That the new regulatory framework and price regulation offer more stability to tenants by now having the great less incentive to get their homes to the rental market. “We are seeing that a large part of the contracts in force are extending their duration, which translates into the reduction of extinguished and, therefore, in greater stabilization,” Highlight. His statement is however some nuances. Shortly after the new regulation in the 140 Catalan municipalities … Read more

With housing for clouds, Spain had never won so much with rentals

If we talk about housing, Spain has always been a country of owners. Twenty years ago the percentage of households that resided in a house in its name It was 80%compared to just 9.5% rented (at market price). Things have changed since then. While families residing in their own homes remain a large majority, lease He has gained strength. That demand increase, added to tourist rental boomha Turned prices In recent years, especially in big citiessuch as Madrid or Barcelona. That reality has had an effect Beyond the market, in the rent of Spanish households: profits related to real estate has reached a record level. What does that mean? That those who pay income do so more expensive than everbut those who charge them have seen how their profits grew so much that, together, the country’s households had never entered so much through that way. The (Great) Footprint of the Rentals. The increase of rentals and The increase of tourist housing has not only tension the real estate market, deriving in protests such as those summoned to early April in dozens of cities in Spain or the famous “Key Revolution” held in October 2024. Its effect has also been clear elsewhere: the pockets of the landlords. Those who charge income, either for the rent of a home, a place or a garage, has seen how that source of income for their own domestic economy He shot In just a few years until reaching records. In fact, household revenues for that reason are in its highest level Since at least 1995. A percentage: more than 90%. The data is interesting for several reasons. First, because we usually think of large investment funds when talking about rent, the reality is that more than 90% of the properties that are leases as habitual housing and market price are in the hands of individuals. Natural persons. No societies or vulture funds. In fact, societies are owners of 8%. He reveals it The Bank of Spain in a recent report with data from 2021. The second reason is that in Spain they receive income from the rental of properties More than three million of people. A figure: 31.5 billion. If we can have an exact idea of ​​how much it ascends and what this huge flow of income related to the rental of properties, from houses to premises or garages, is thanks to the Tax Agency and its collection reports. In latestpublished recently and whose content has analyzed eldiario.es, it is revealed that last year the profits by leased real estate amounted to 31.5 billion euros. That is the fact of what homes perceive. To him would be added what they perceive through companies. It is the largest data of the historical series published by the Tax Agency, which dates back to 1995 and that except for some exceptions (for example between 2019 and 2020, coinciding with the pandemic) has maintained an ascending curve. As a reference, in 2023 the gross income of households related to the lease of real estate remained slightly below 29,600 million. If we look at 2008, he added 16,123, which has almost doubled since then. Gross household income (millions of euros) 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2024 Furniture capital 18,156 11,948 14,749 22,710 15,842 14,801 30,767 Leased properties 5,980 8,087 12,027 16,485 17,881 22,680 31.504 Patrimonial gains 2,452 11,619 24,808 10.507 13,320 18.122 28.818 Total capital income 26,588 31,654 51,584 49,701 47,043 55,602 91.089 Does the report relieve anything else? Yes, that this increase has consolidated the rental of real estate as the main capital income in Spanish households. What does that mean? For fiscal purposes, capital income is the income achieved thanks to assets such as investments, properties sold or rents, among others. In 2024 the latter (rentals) added 31,504 million euros, while the furniture capital remained at 30,767 and the heritage earnings in 28,818. That the first has climbed so much is not just due to the market or the rental boom. The Treasury himself has narrowed the siege to the tourist rental, which has made homes that were rented without declaring have emerged in the eyes of the Treasury. Why is it important? Because it was not always the case. In 2008, Spanish households entered 16,123 million through the lease of real estate while Furniture capital (Bank accounts, bonds, titles, etc.) generated about 22.7 billion. Coinciding with the increase in income via rent, Eldiario precise Another curious circumstance: rentals, furniture capital and heritage gains (surplus value of homes or shares) represent just over 10% of the total homes of households. It did not happen since 2008. The main homes of households remain those associated with work, which last year exceeds 753.4 billion euros. The income of the companies and other concepts complete the general photo exceeding 57.3 billion. What tells us about the sector? That the income of the homemade grows up is interesting in themselves, but it is still another symptom of the situation of the real estate market. Its increase coincides with the increase in rentals (of more than 90% in the last decade, according to The data of the idealist portal), The boom of the tourist floors and an increasing In record time. At the same time and given the difficulties in saving, achieving financing and becoming a owner, the rental option is gaining weight as a vital option. The INE estimates that in 2021 15.9% of households They resided in rent. In 2011 that percentage was two lower points (13.5%). Interestingly, a very similar figure, 15.5% of households, had second residence, which places them in the group of potential families that become homemade. Images | Nicolas Vigier (Flickr) and Joan Ggk (Flickr) In Xataka | Idealist has calculated the “effort rate” of the Spaniards to pay the rent. The panorama is not encouraging

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