Three quarters of rental ads in Barcelona are for rooms
Renting
Seventy-six percent of rental adverts in Barcelona are now for individual rooms as opposed to entire apartments, new research shows, reflecting the extent of a housing crisis in Spain that prevents city residents from affording their own place.
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New data has revealed the extent of the housing crisis in Barcelona, with the vast majority of new rental adverts now being for individual rooms rather than apartments.
For many in the Catalan capital, this reflects the harsh recent reality of the Barcelona market. Living alone or renting an entire flat has become a dream for most, with flat shares and individual room rents the norm among locals well into their 30s and 40s.
According to figures from the Rental Observatory and Rey Juan Carlos University, in Barcelona, despite almost a full year of attempts at price regulation in Catalonia, 74 percent of rentals on offer are for rooms.
The data confirms that Barcelona is going through 'the worst crisis in the long-term rental market' according to María Martos, research director at property website Fotocasa. 'The market is completely disrupted,' she adds.
As The Local has reported, landlords in Barcelona and around Spain have resorted to various means to try to circumvent new regulations that mean they must adjust rents to the official price index. Often this is done by converting their properties into seasonal or tourist rentals to bypass rules.
This is having social consequences in the Catalan capital. In 2023, more than 50,000 people helped by the Cáritas charity in Catalonia were living in rooms, according to a report they published this week in collaboration with Esade.
Price and supply tensions have also caused a generational gap in flat-shares. Previously something mostly done by students in their twenties, now renters up to 40-years-old are forced to rent a room as they can't afford a full apartment.
Young people are increasingly leaving the family home later due to the imbalance in the rental market, and single room rents are now almost the 'only alternative they have to be able to leave their parents' house or develop their life project,' Ferrán Font, director at Pisos.com, told 20 Minutos.
There's no sign of a resolution anytime soon, either. Iñaki Unsain, founder and CEO of ACV Gestión Inmobiliaria, a Barcelona-based agency, points out that the salaries of younger workers have not risen at the same rate as the prices of rents in recent years.
'When I put a flat up for rent I have to take the advert down because of the flood of calls I get and I have come across people offering to pay three or six months rent in advance so as not to be left without a place to live,' he says.
Another leading Spanish property website, Idealista, has shown that Barcelona is the city with the most expensive room rentals in Spain, with an average of €620 per month. It is closely followed by Madrid (€565), Palma de Mallorca (€500) and San Sebastián (€487).
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