Barcelona is taking drastic action to facilitate more affordable housing for residents
Credit: Dronepic/wiki
By November 2028, the city plans to ban short-term tourist rentals in a bid to tackle soaring housing costs and make apartments more accessible to residents.
The city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, has spoken of plans to scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals “We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s largest problem. Tourist flats as we conceive of them today will disappear from the city of Barcelona”.
A decade of rising rents and property prices
Barcelona is Spain’s most visited city by foreign tourists. Many residents can no longer afford an apartment after rents rose 68 per cent in the past 10 years and the cost of buying a house rose by 38 per cent, according to Jaume Collboni.
Access to housing has created widening social divides, particularly for young people. The city hopes their drastic plans will free up housing options for locals.
While hotels are expected to benefit from the reduced competition, opponents of the ban, like Apartur, a tourist apartment association, fear negative consequences. They express concerns about potential job losses, increased poverty, and a surge in illegal rentals.
A balance between economic benefits and well-being
This decision reflects a growing tension in popular tourist destinations. Barcelona has already been tightening regulations on new tourist apartments and tackling illegal ones. The city is attempting to strike a balance between the economic benefits of tourism and the well-being of its residents.
Local resident, Patricia Jago said Those who make a living within the short-let sector will be seriously concerned rght now, but I can see the benefits for young people and families who have no chance of renting a home in their own city.
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