Rental ceilings: prices fall, but the Property Chamber says the positive effect is transitory

BarcelonaNew data on the impact of rent caps. The average price of new rental contracts has fallen by 1.28% in municipalities declared as rent-controlled areas —where the administration can apply rent containment— compared to when the measure began to be applied in March 2024, while in the rest of Catalonia prices have risen by 9.53%. This is data published by the Generalitat this Monday based on the deposits of new rental contracts made to Incasòl during the first quarter of 2026.

Despite the diverging trends, the rent paid by new tenants in rent-controlled areas continues to be higher than the Catalan average. In municipalities with caps, the monthly rent is 876.56 euros, while in areas without caps, it drops to 639.60 euros. The average across all of Catalonia stands at 861.23 euros. Prices in the city of Barcelona are soaring to over 1,137 euros.

In parallel, the regular rental stock in municipalities with rent control has grown by 20,994 contracts since the measure came into effect, leading the executive of Salvador Illa to boast about the initiative: "It reinforces the idea that regulation has not reduced supply, but rather has contributed to expanding it."

Prices are rising in the last year

The manager of the Barcelona Urban Property Chamber, Òscar Gorgues, cools the Government's positive outlook. In statements to ARA, he warns that "at first, prices go down, but then they go up again". Monthly rents have increased by 3.71% in tensioned areas compared to the first quarter of last year, and by 4.04% in the rest of the country.

In Barcelona, prices have risen by 4.61% in the last year. With the entry into force of the cap two years ago in March, the price per square meter of rent fell in the following two quarters, but has not stopped rising since then. The monthly rent in the Catalan capital is currently 16.89 euros per square meter, 4.3% more than a year ago, but 0.9% higher than in the first quarter of 2024. The last quarter of last year exceeded 17.04 euros per square meter.

Regarding market activity, in the first three months of the year, 3,404 net contracts have been added in Catalonia —28,079 were signed, but 24,675 expired—. Gorgues warns that it is a "very low" growth rate and that, if before the cap the market "was growing strongly and intensely, now it has been slowing down".

Why are prices rising despite the cap?

The cap applies to 271 municipalities, which concentrate 90% of the population. Gorgues explains that prices are rising despite the cap, because the monthly payment can be updated annually with the CPI so that, after five years, the total increase "is greater than 4% or 5%".

Likewise, he recalls that the data summarize a very heterogeneous market, where the type of housing that enters and leaves the market varies: "One quarter, contracts expire that may have a higher price, and others a lower price". This is why he warns that the data "we cannot look at with a microscope" and that "it is this detail that is missing".

Currently, the Generalitat is studying whether the populations that currently form part of the tense zones meet the requirements to continue being so from next year, when the administration will have to renew the measure. The Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, explained that the number of municipalities that will have this consideration will be very similar to what there is currently, even if they are integrated for the first time. Currently, the Generalitat is studying the accessibility to the housing market in each of the municipalities to determine this.