Renting rose 30% in Catalonia between 2004 and 2018

Rents and property assignment agreements went up 29.4% between 2004 and 2018 in Catalonia, and is the preferred option of 30.4% of Catalans, according to a special report on renting carried out by the housing watchdog of Spain's Ministry of Development.

The report also shows that in 2018 in Catalonia, average rent was 8.7 euros per square metre, with an average monthly cost of 693 euros, a 6.7% increase on the previous year. That makes Catalonia the most expensive area in Spain after Madrid (800 euros).

There are currently over 700,000 new homes rented out in Spain as a whole, says the watchdog, with the Canary Islands the area where most people rent (34.5%), followed by the Balearic Islands (34.1%), Catalonia (30.4%) and Madrid (26.6%).

The option to rent rather than buy a home is growing in particular among young people. Some 39.9% of young people between 30 and 44 rent their homes, while in 2007 the figure was 25.7%. For people under 30, the figure rises to 70.4% (41.9% in 2007).

As for rental prices, while the average monthly rent in Catalonia is 693 euros, in the Barcelona area that rises to 769 euros. In Catalonia's northern province of Girona it is 514 euros, while it is 384 in the western region of Lleida, and 459 in the south, in Tarragona.