Five figures that put Eixample at the epicentre of the housing crisis

Barcelona"We have changed our mindset since the Casa Orsola case, everyone has seen the wolf's ears and we have entered into a new dynamic." This is how Xavier Riu, spokesperson for the Association of Residents of the Left of Eixample, presented the document Housing and speculation in the Eixample. It is a report that collects data from the district between 2016 and 2024 and exposes the problem of the Eixample with housing.

70% of seasonal rental offer

70% of the rental offer in the Eixample district of Barcelona is seasonal. The data "is a representative sample of a search on real estate portals," explained Jaume Artigues, president of the Eixample Right Neighbourhood Association. The figure is complemented by another: 21% of the beds in the district were tourist beds in 2023.

The data on tourist beds is extracted from the Barcelona Tourism Observatory for 2023, adding the beds that exist in hotels, guest houses, tourist apartments, and homes. The total figure is 56,686 beds for 269,056 inhabitants of the district.

232 properties with speculative practices

The results of the report have led to the detection of 232 properties in the Eixample with "speculative practices". That is, what the neighbours say are properties bought by vulture funds for speculative purposes. Speculative practices are considered to be the marketing of the properties, the cancellation of contracts and the expulsion of residents or properties with purchase and rental prices that exceed the average price index. Also included are new construction developments intended for tourist rental and luxury developments aimed at rental in international markets.

Compared to the total number of single-owner properties in the Eixample, the most recent data is from 2019 and stands at 1,442. More than half of the properties "with speculative practices" presented are concentrated in the Right Eixample neighbourhood (116); in the Left Eixample there are 38; in Sagrada Família, 19; in Sant Antoni 14, and in Fort Pienc, 10.

33% deviation from the offer price

These homes with "speculative practices" have a 33% deviation in their sale price. The average sale price for apartments in the district is €4,733/m2 and these apartments are sold for €6,346/m2. These are figures from the Barcelona City Council data portal. Artigues explained that "the reason for the general increase in prices is that the supply has moved to the international and seasonal rental markets."

4,000 "invisible" evictions

The neighbourhood associations emphasised the "invisible evictions". These are residents who have been forced to leave their homes under the threat of a lawsuit or trial when their contracts expire. In the eight years analysed by the study, there have been 4,000 invisible evictions in the district, which are estimated to have affected some 10,000 residents. In addition, 97 judicial evictions have been made compatible, but Artigas has emphasised that "the invisible ones are the most important".

5 residences evicted

How the ARA explainedThe study also revealed the situation of residences in the Eixample: 111 places have been lost and five residences and a day centre have been expelled. modus operandi to evict the residences is a vulture fund that buys the properties to build luxury homes.

In addition, the report has collected the data for 2023 from the Arrels Foundation on homeless people in Barcelona: 302 people are in this situation in the Eixample, the second district of the city with the highest figure, only behind Ciutat Vella (339).