After two years below 300,000 square meters of contracting, Barcelona offices "are back on track." To the contracting figure that is considered good for Barcelona, taking into account the demand from companies that want to rent offices in the city and the count of new square meters entering the market. After a more cautious 2023 and 2024, now, the market reaches 314,000 square meters in 2025 (6.4% more than in 2024) and with good news: there are large operations that should have closed in 2025 and will do so in these first months of 2026. That is: the good progress continues.
This has been communicated by the real estate company Forcadell in its market report, in which it highlights that this growth "reaffirms the dynamism and solidity of the Barcelona office market" and points to an "even better" 2026. "Provided that geopolitics allows us and does not shake the business plans of local and international companies, we foresee that this 2026 will exceed the figures of 2025," said Manel de Bes, director of Offices at Forcadell, backed by "the firmness of the demand we are observing in the sector."
According to sector sources, among the large operations that are about to close in Barcelona, two are located in 22@ and belong to the technology and training sectors, with areas of 5,000 square meters. These two sectors, in fact, along with that of biomedical technology industries, represent the main protagonists of office demand in Barcelona, with two clear predominant locations: 22@ and the Fira area.
"The availability rate has slightly decreased, to 12%"
These figures show that "Barcelona maintains its attractiveness as a business and technology hub, with active demand, increasingly focused on quality, location, and efficiency," explains De Bes, who adds that "2026 presents itself as a clear opportunity for owners and investors, in a market that combines resilience, growth, and trajectory."
Forcadell's report indicates that the availability rate has slightly decreased, to 12%. That is, 12% of the office stock in Barcelona is available for rent, a percentage that De Bes considers "healthy": "playing with an availability of between 8% and 12% allows companies to have room for maneuver to grow." When availability is around 5%, he points out, "there is no room to grow and prices become excessively strained."
22@ and the NBA Fair concentrate approximately 52% of the available surface area, with a clear predominance of 22@, which represents close to 40% of the total and reduces its weight compared to the previous quarter. This district is the one that presents the best balance between office availability, quality, and projection, which makes it, according to Forcadell, the main focus of activity for the coming quarters.
De Bes points out that both Barcelona and Madrid are experiencing a good moment in the office market and that both capitals, "rather than competing, coexist," and considers it positive "to have two powerful places, well connected to each other and with healthy competition."
Barcelona has recovered the peak of 300,000 square meters in 2025, "is back on track" and looks optimistically to 2026. However, pre-pandemic figures and the record contracting reached in 2019, with 395,000 square meters, are still far off. On the way to reaching them, however, the geopolitical context will continue to set the pace.