4 in 10 flats in Barcelona owned by people or entities with 10 or more properties

Almost 4 in 10 apartments for regular rent in Barcelona are owned by people or entities with ten or more properties, according to a new report published on Friday by the city council, Incasòl, and the Metropolitan Observatory of Barcelona Housing (O-HB).

The study estimates that there are 290,416 rental apartments in the city based on data from 2021, of which 104,500 or 36.1% are owned by people or entities - 'grans tenidors' in Catalan - with ten or more properties.

On the other hand, only 4.4% of rental apartments (12,893) in the Catalan capital are owned by public administrations.

'Grans tenidors': 2.1% of owners with 36.1% of properties

According to O-HB estimates, 'gran tenidors' represent 2.1% of owners with flats for rent, but possess 36.1% of all properties. If officials take into account data from Incasòl, the Catalan Government's entity that manages public land in Catalonia, the number drops to 29.6%.

'Grans tenidors' aside, in Barcelona more than half of the flats for rent, 51.4%, are owned by owners who have more than three properties. 

"More than half of the rental flats in Barcelona [51.4%] are owned by someone who has at least three flats in the city. So, this percentage could be even higher," Lucía Martin, Barcelona councilor for housing said during a press conference on Friday.

Martín is referring to the fact that the report only studied the number of flats in Barcelona, but owners could have other properties in neighboring cities or beyond.

To estimate the number of flats for rent in the city, O-HB took the 754,326 households and applied the 38.5% percentage that the sociodemographic survey from 2020 noted in the city.

City council defends rent cap law

The city council has also defended that regulations that limit rent prices are something that is "very important" for Barcelona as Catalonia's rent cap law was struck down by Spain's Constitutional Court earlier this year.

Citing the report, Martín believes that not all apartments for rent in the city are "owned by small owners," referring to those that have one property for rent and use the income to pay for a rented flat where they are currently living. 

Additionally, the councilor was also critical of the Spanish government's proposal to tax owners with ten or more properties and leave aside the ones with nine or fewer. 

"It does not make sense to propose a price regulation that would not apply to all households," she said as around 400,000 tenants would not be protected.

Catalan rent cap law

Catalonia has tried to limit prices with a rent cap law which was mostly annulled by Spain’s Constitutional Court back in March 2022. The legislation came into effect in September 2020 and affected up to 61 cities and towns in Catalonia.

The court revoked the law to limit rent prices in some areas of the territory as it is the "state who sets the obligatory contractual standards." This means, according to magistrates, Catalonia has overstepped its powers related to housing. 

The decision came after the conservative People’s Party appealed the bill in Spain’s highest judicial administration.