After we published the previous month about the restrictions on tourist apartments in Madrid, the municipality of Barcelona announced an even more extreme step of "eliminating" the licenses for individual holiday apartments until 2028. The municipality's goal is to increase the supply of apartments to the local market and lower the rental prices that have risen sharply since the corona virus - (See an article about a 31% increase in rental prices in Barcelona within two years). The opponents of the move claim that it will not have a significant effect on the side of increasing the supply and that the socialist policy will actually harm the city's economy, raise the prices of accommodation for tourists and reduce the scope of investments in the city.
Several years ago the municipality of Barcelona stopped providing licenses for tourist apartments. Which made the product of tourist licenses in demand and valuable. According to estimates, an apartment with a tourist license was sold for about 1,000 to 2,000 euros per square meter more than an identical apartment without a tourist license. For the purpose of the example, a normal apartment in a good location in the city measuring 50 square meters that you will sell without a license will sell for about 4,500 euros per square meter, that is 225,0000 euros. The same apartment with a tourist license will sell for about 6,000 euros per square meter, that is, 300,000 euros due to the license. The meaning of the elimination of the tourist apartments is a significant loss of income for the owners of the tourist apartments and an extreme decrease in value. The pain will be felt mainly by investors who purchased apartments with a tourist license in recent years and did not have enough Enjoy the return on investment. However, there is still a worthy alternative for owners of furnished apartments and that is
Is the reduction of tourist apartments the solution to the burning rent bull in Barcelona?
The aggressive step is being marketed to the public by the municipality as a means of alleviating the acute housing crisis, a serious problem that greatly disturbs the local public. "It is necessary to increase the supply of apartments, and the measures we are taking are aimed at increasing the supply of apartments available to the middle class. That way they won't have to leave the city because they can't afford apartments," Mayor Jaume Collboni announced
Will we see the change soon?
In the city of Barcelona there are close to 1.7 million inhabitants, and close to 850,000 properties intended for residence. But when 16 million tourists visit the city a year, a severe housing crisis arises. According to the municipality's data, there are currently 10,101 licenses for holiday apartments in force in the city, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics it is slightly less. No matter how we look at it - the amount of vacation apartments in Barcelona is only a single percent of all residential apartments (0.77%). A figure that already raises doubts about the ability of the new policy to bring about change.
"Holiday apartments make up 0.77% of Barcelona's apartment pool," says Enrique Alcantara, president of the organization that represents apartment owners (APARTUR). "The elimination of the industry will not solve the housing problem. The new policy will only increase the number of illegal vacation units," he added. The landlords' organization plans to fight against the decision in the courts.
The representative of the opposition in Barcelona, Damia Calvet, also does not see any great news in the program, and he points to another problem. "We can pretend that all 10,000 apartments that are currently rented out to tourists will be used for residents' residences, but that is not realistic," he declared in the media and explained: not all apartments that hold licenses are really used by tourists. Many apartment owners hold the permit, because its very existence increases the value of the apartment in case they want to sell; But in practice they live in the apartment and do not rent it out to tourists. So the number of apartments that are actually rented to tourists is about 80% of the number of apartments that have a license to do so.
In light of the apartment crisis, the anger towards owners of holiday apartments is understandable. And also many are not enthusiastic about the fact that tourists camp near their residential apartments. But even among the supporters of the plan, there is an understanding that the plan does not touch the real problem and is not expected to bring about change.
Where is the problem?
Barcelona is a relatively small city, but very attractive. The city has positive immigration, as well as tourism growth - which creates a great demand for apartments. And in light of these things, Barcelona is expected to continue to face a housing crisis as long as it does not find ways to increase construction. Due to the geographical location, between the sea and the mountains, Barcelona does not have many options. And the possible solutions are through additional building permits, or drying up the sea.
The new policy will bring about a minimal change, but in the long run and when you look at the overall picture - it is simply meaningless.
Madrid has a bigger problem, which the mayor can solve. The city is facing a decrease in the supply of long-term rental apartments as a result of the socialist housing policy of recent years.
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