Rents in Barcelona would have increased by at least 160 euros per month without the cap
The sale of entire buildings in the city registers a fall of 31%, according to a metropolitan study
BarcelonaThe Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory calculates the real impact of the rent cap. Prices in the Catalan capital would have risen by between 160 and 270 euros more per month if this measure had not been implemented, according to a report prepared by this entity. Without regulation, the document states, rents would have continued to rise to 1,318.6 euros per month, following the trend of the last decade, or could even have risen further, to 1,492.2 euros, if the accelerated growth rate of the market in recent years had been maintained.
The latest available data places the average rent price at 1,161 euros, a decrease of 2.7% compared to what was paid before the regulation came into force, in the first quarter of 2024. With this data, which comes from the semi-annual monitoring study of the Stressed Residential Market Area, the co-director of the Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory, Carles Donat, has defended the effectiveness of the rent price cap in containing the exorbitant increase in recent years. "We see a break in the trend after the very intense increase of recent decades, especially in the last two years after covid," he said.
Less speculation?
According to the same study, sales of entire buildings by private investors have fallen by 31% in Barcelona, to 149 transactions notified to the City Council in 2025. This is the lowest figure in the last five years, which leads the municipal government to believe that real estate speculation is "on the decline" in the Catalan capital. The Commissioner for Housing, Joan Ramon Riera, assures that .Riera also assured that the data indicate that Barcelona “is on the right track”, as the regulation has caused the “possibility of profit in the buying and selling of properties to be lower” and, therefore, that demand “of a speculative nature” has also decreased, which is noticeable in operations of vertical properties of more than 10 homes, which have fallen by 31.3% year-on-year in 2025. The figures prepared from the data published by Incasòl also indicate that seasonal rentals have noted a “sharp and intense decrease”, down to 1,282 apartments registered in the last quarter of 2025, 53% less than a year earlier and a value close to what was seen before rent control.