Barcelona's housing crisis and the role of expats

"It's easy to point the finger at people who are coming from other countries – especially those of higher income levels – as being the problem, driving the price inflation and decreasing access to housing, but I think it's actually a lot more important to focus upon who's actually profiting from this." 

Brian Rosa is a researcher and professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Along with Antonio López Gay, he has conducted research through surveys and focus groups with Barcelona's highly qualified migrants – 'expats' in everyday terms. 

Housing is a hot topic in the Catalan capital. In November, tens of thousands of people came out on the streets of Barcelona to demand a 50% reduction in rents, and urgent measures to guarantee access to housing.

While tourists and expats may get blamed for pushing up prices, Rosa points out that the majority of properties are owned by people from Catalonia or other parts of Spain. 

Seasonal lets loophole 

Rental contracts in Spain break down into three types: Airbnb-type short-term rentals, which last less than one month, seasonal rentals, between one and 12 months, and leases of over a year. 

These long-term leases are protected by the Spanish housing law. However, the introduction of this law in 2023, along with the earlier 2020 Catalan housing law – later overturned by the courts – led to some unexpected consequences in Barcelona. 

"Landlords strategically decided that they would take advantage of this loophole in regulation between one month and a year and convert what would have been, in many cases, long-term housing units to seasonal lets," Rosa explains. 

It's certainly true, he says, that landlords were "treating so-called expats as the target market for these leases, which was ultimately reducing the supply and inflating the price of housing." 

As well as driving housing inflation overall, this also meant there weren't as many long-term properties on the market, "sometimes forcing people who don't fit the profile of the short-term resident into these much more exploitative contracts, which are oftentimes double the cost of a normal long-term rental," Rosa says. 

Poblenou 

The post-industrial Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona is one feeling the effects of the housing crisis. 

Popular with tourists and expats, the originally working-class streets have been transformed in the 21st century with the implementation of the 22@ urban plan, creating a digital innovation hub for tech companies. 

Barcelona native Toni Coll has been living in the area for 14 years, and, upon arrival, immediately got involved in the Poblenou Residents' Association.   

"A lot" of tech sector workers have "found homes here," Coll explains – "flats for sale and for rent." 

"Since they have a much higher income level than we have here, they can afford rental prices that the locals can't." 

"Property owners with apartments for rent, whether they're 'large landlords' or not, are setting rents so high that the people from here can't afford them," Coll argues. 

Like Rosa, he notes the impact of the seasonal rentals loophole. 

"As it's not properly regulated, they can change the price every year, and they’re operating as tourist apartments, basically." 

"We either regulate – and, for now, it's not regulated – or we won't have a solution," he says. 

Beckham law

Barcelona City Council and the Catalan government both openly try to attract what they call international talent. 

But it is at the level of the Spanish state that Brian Rosa thinks the real blind spot is in this debate about the impact of highly qualified international residents in places like Barcelona. 

He mentions the golden visa, now being phased out, and the Beckham law. 

"Someone coming from the United States, for example, would have their income tax capped at 24% for the first six years, when people in that same income range who are Spanish citizens might be paying up to 47%," Rosa explains. 

That's not only unfair, he argues, "but it also has major impacts in terms of the housing market, both in terms of what rent people can afford to pay by not having to pay so many taxes, or their ability to be able to purchase a property, which they might not have been able to do otherwise." 

Public housing

Coll meanwhile calls on the city council and Catalan government to "implement a clear housing policy." 

"The public investment that the 22@ project promised has not materialized."  

"We fought a lot for public housing in the plan and its revisions," Coll explains, "but only a small amount has been created." 

"On the other hand, luxury private housing has been built, usually with ridiculously high prices," he says, "and this has caused this demographic change in the neighborhood." 

"Meanwhile, the people who were living here, and the children of the neighborhood residents, have to leave, because they can’t afford to rent or buy homes here," Coll says. 

The solution, according to the Poblenou Residents' Association, is more investment in public housing for rent. 

"We believe this is the foundation to address the social and demographic changes occurring in the neighborhood," Coll says.