The sale of flats rebounds in Barcelona while rent continues to fall

Access to housing is one of the main concerns for Barcelona residents, in a market where buying and selling operations are recovering and rental contracts continue to decline. This is confirmed by Amat Immobiliaris, which last year registered a 13% growth in home sales, with 20% more operations in new construction and 12% in second-hand flats.

These upturns have occurred at the same time that the rental market has continued to fall: the real estate agency closed 18% fewer lease contracts in 2024 than in the previous year. Adding the decline also registered the previous year, the rental market has accumulated a 43% decrease in the last two fiscal years for Amat, as explained by its general director, Guifré Homedes Amat, third generation in the real estate company.

With this decrease, the company founded in 1948 and chaired by Immaculada Amat closed last year with just over 200 rental contracts signed, half of its average for the last 20 years, of 400 annual contracts. "Since 2001, we had not invoiced so little from the rental commercialization area," Amat warned.

In a context marked by housing scarcity, a tenant profile is gaining ground: high-income foreigners settling in the city now represent 59% of new contract signings. This is because, given the flood of candidates that flats receive, owners, real estate agencies, and insurers opt for the safest and most solvent profiles, which often correspond to foreign professionals residing in the city. Of these, 44% are European, while 39% are American, and 11% are Asian: "They are the ones capitalizing on rental regulation. In a regulated market, whoever can pay 1,200 euros becomes the best candidate for a 1,000 euro flat."

Tenant profiles are changing as prices begin to reduce, after the entry into force of the limitation of rental prices from the second quarter. Since then, prices have been reduced by 1.8%, and have curbed the increases that had occurred in previous years, of around 6%. This 2% decrease occurred after an "artificial" increase in prices above the average due to owners' desire to get ahead of the regulation, according to Homedes.

Despite this drop in prices, the average rent of leases closed by Amat increased in 2024, mainly because the homes that have been rented have been larger: on average, they have been 20% larger than the previous year. "This also conditions accessibility," Homedes highlighted. Along these lines, contracts above 2,500 euros have doubled: "The product that comes onto the market is of a higher price."

The stagnant situation of the rental market and the scarcity of housing also leads to longer periods in the same apartment: the average duration of a rental is almost four years. This lack of rental apartments is reflected in Amat's operations: only 26% of its offer is published on real estate portals ---last year it did so in 85% of cases---, and the most affordable apartments are marketed internally, either with candidates from previous apartments, with people registered on its website or with previous commitments, as Homedes detailed.

In this context, rotation is also affected, which remains below 10%, far from the 20% that had been exceeded in previous years. And why do tenants move? Either they move to another rental apartment (33%) or they choose to buy (28%), while 22% move to other cities or countries, and 10% do so due to changes in their personal or family life. "Only in 5% of cases is it the owner who decides not to renew," according to Homedes.

And, when apartments become vacant, many leave the rental circuit and are sold to an owner who uses them as a habitual residence, and not as an investment. Thus, the difficulties in the rental market are transferred to the buying and selling market with positive figures. In this sense, the second-hand housing sales market has registered an 8% increase in the offer of apartments, and a 12% increase in the number of operations, while new construction has grown by 20%. Also in this area, prices are rising, and the high-standing market has grown, with homes above one million euros. In this area, as Homedes highlighted, 85% of buyers are local.

The sales market has been conditioned by the Government's will to withdraw the Golden Visa, which allows foreigners to access the residential regime if 500,000 euros are invested in a property. This announcement, according to Homedes, has generated a "call effect" and has accelerated purchases by this group. For this reason, Homedes believes that the measure has generated the opposite effect to what was sought, as he believes has also happened with the reservation of 30% of protected housing and the limit on rental prices. "For there to be a positive change, more supply is needed in the market," highlighted Homedes, who recalled that the Generalitat is promoting the construction of 50,000 public homes in five years. However, he has focused on public-private collaboration: "Owners must be allies of the administration and encourage them to invest even more; without the private sector and without owners, it will not be possible."