Idealista real estate site will not have to pay €90,000 Barcelona council fine for discrimination, court rules

Idealista, a popular real estate listing website and app used across Spain, will not have to pay a €90,001 fine for discrimination it received from the Barcelona council in 2020.

The ad in question refers to a 2019 apartment listing published on the platform by The New House Barcelona that "explicitly" stated it was only open to Spanish nationals.

A Barcelona court ruled on Tuesday that Idealista cannot be considered a real estate agent according to Spain's housing law, meaning that it is not responsible for the content of the ads on its site.

Judges also believe the Catalan capital's council should have first requested the removal of the ad, which it did not do.

Over a fifth of Barcelona's population is from abroad, with Italy, Pakistan and China accounting for the highest number of foreign-born residents.