Tourist apartments have no effect on the housing price increase in Barcelona

The Association of Touristic Apartments in Barcelona (Apartur) said that tourist apartment activity in the city has a non-existent effect on the price increase of the residential housing. This is the main conclusion from their study presented in the Catalan capital on Tuesday. The touristic trade association calculates that the number of illegal tourist apartments decreased by 1,076 apartments in 2016 due to the city council’s inspections. “2016 was the first year tourist apartments in Barcelona decreased. These apartments have gone from being for touristic use to being for residential use. Therefore, the tourist apartments have nothing to do with the increase of the renting prices,” said Apartur’s president, Enrique Alcántara.

According to Apartur’s study, the reduction of tourist apartments led to an increase of residential housing, and so cannot have had any effect on the increase of rental prices in the Catalan capital. On the contrary, Apartur’s president attributes the rental price increase to the economic recovery, the decrease of the unemployment rate, and the substitution of lower-income residents with those with higher incomes, some of who are from abroad, particularly from other European countries and the United States. 

The association’s president said at the presentation that with time they feel less responsible for the rental price increase, “as people are more informed and are more aware of what’s really going on in the city”, said Alcántara. “We want to congratulate the Barcelona city council for the inspection work done to detect the tourist apartments without licenses,” he added.