The Barcelona City Council received European backing this Monday for its intention to act against tourist apartments. In a press conference alongside the mayor, Jaume Collboni, the European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jorgensen, stated that "there is no doubt" that short-term rentals have become a "major problem" in many European cities, not just in large capitals. He also explained that he is visiting the Catalan capital to "learn" about what is being done in housing matters.

The employers' association of tourist apartments continues to pressure to prevent the elimination of this type of offer in Barcelona and its surroundings from 2028. This Monday they did so by using Mobile congress attendees as a battering ram against the ban. The president of Apartur, Enrique Alcántara, and the general director, Marian Muro, have presented data from a GAD3 survey among attendees of the last Mobile to argue that congress attendees are against the prohibition of tourist apartments. Specifically, they point out that only 3% of attendees defend the prohibition of tourist apartments.

The government has created a single state registry for tourist accommodations. A mandatory registration number. One-stop shop. Digital traceability. And appeals have already been filed with the Supreme Court alleging an overreach of authority. Andalusia and industry associations have challenged it. The autonomous communities are defending their jurisdiction. The central government wants to centralize the data.

The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), and the Comuns party have reached an agreement to increase the tourist tax in Catalonia. This measure was initially promoted by the Catalan government after reaching an agreement with the Comuns in February of last year, but it was not ratified by the Catalan Parliament due to disagreements with the ERC regarding the application criteria. These differences have now been resolved, and the government and its partners have agreed on several joint amendments with the aim of definitively approving the law in Parliament in February, so that it can begin to be applied in April, with the start of the new tax collection period. The new tourist tax will double once the law is approved. The increase will be 100% during this legislative term, but its implementation will not take place in a single year but over two. Thus, the rate will finally double in 2027. The text of the joint amendments maintains the requirement that 25% of the surcharge be allocated to housing policies of the Generalitat (Catalan government). Furthermore, a single payment period is established in April, thereby "simplifying" the system and "facilitating" compliance. Until now, the rate was due between April 1st and 20th, and between October 1st and 20th. Regarding the municipal surcharge, which until now only Barcelona applied to the tourist tax, starting in April, all municipalities will be able to decide when and how to apply it, as demanded by Esquerra Republicana (ERC) to break the territorial uniformity. Municipalities will also be able to adapt it to their neighborhoods, also depending on the type of accommodation. Thus, for example, each municipality will be able to decide whether to apply the tax year-round, during a specific period of the season, or during both annual tourist periods. This surcharge will be a maximum of 4 euros and may not exceed the amount of the Generalitat's fee, in order to guarantee fairness and legal certainty. The revenue will go to the municipalities themselves. The Catalan Government agreed with the Comuns party almost a year ago to double the fee for tourist establishments, which is collected equally by the Generalitat and the municipalities, and that half of what the Government collects would be allocated to housing access policies. The main point of contention with the Republicans was the increase in this fee outside of Barcelona: they demanded that the fee be lower in other Catalan municipalities than in the Catalan capital, and that there be differentiated fees between the summer and winter seasons.

The divide between the two Barcelonas caused by the housing crisis is becoming increasingly profound, accelerating the gentrification of some neighborhoods and the depopulation of others. This is confirmed by the latest report from the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona (FAVB), entitled SOS HousingThe study, which found that in 2024 there were more than 600 large speculative housing developments underway in the Catalan capital, affecting more than 11,800 homes, mostly involved families forced to leave their homes due to the expiration of their rental contracts. These developments are part of "the typical operation of buying an entire building, evicting the residents, and renovating to sell at luxury prices," spokespeople stated. The study combines official data (from the Catalan Housing Agency, the Barcelona City Council, and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area) with fieldwork conducted with neighborhood associations. The spokesperson for the FAVB Housing Commission, Jaume Artigues, explained that between the first and second halves of last year, speculative housing developments increased from 477 to 619. Of these, the vast majority (568 transactions) were intended for sale: 30% after new construction and 70% subsequently. In total, according to the report, between 2016 and 2024, approximately 75,000 rental contracts expired without renewal, affecting some 180,000 residents.

The president of the Barcelona Hotel Association, Jordi Clos, called this Tuesday for saving half of the city's 10,000 tourist apartments to meet the full demand, breaking away from hoteliers' traditional rejection of apartments. A request that was immediately and categorically rejected by Barcelona's Deputy Mayor for Economy and Tourism, Jordi Valls, who put a stop to yet another demand from the sector.

Faced with the proliferation of tourist apartments, authorities are trying to monitor a market that has gotten out of control. Since July 1, the state registry for legally operating digital platforms has been in effect, adding another layer of control to others such as the Generalitat registry or the licenses granted by Barcelona City Council. According to the latest available data, corresponding to last Friday, Barcelona's state registry lists 6,759 tourist apartments. They represent nearly 68% of the 10,000 apartments with a license granted by the City Council. Therefore, a third have not yet been registered. This does not include illegal apartments, for which there is no exact figure, but the council detects between 300 and 400 monthly.

At first glance, Serhii K. seems like a normal tenant. He signs the contract in his own name, provides the documentation, and pays the deposit on time. But his intention is not to live in that apartment, which soon appears on the main tourist accommodation portals. He claims that over the last three years he has rented more than a dozen apartments in his name or those of other tenants—Angelina L. and Victor P.—and that he has subsequently deceived the owners, who are facing a nightmare if they want to recover their homes.

The Generalitat (Catalan government) has identified more than 9,000 illegal tourist apartment listings in Catalonia on the Airbnb platform, according to a report released this Friday. The morning of Catalunya Ràdio Sources from Turisme de Catalunya, an agency under the Department of Business and Employment, have confirmed this to ARA. According to the public radio station, of the total number of apartments detected, 6,200 are residential apartments in Barcelona. The Tourism Department explains that this allows them to detect "signs of irregularities," such as apartments that do not have a registration number or that the number does not match the address listed on the website, among others. The same sources confirm that Airbnb has already been asked to remove the affected listings.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez kicked off the year by announcing a plan to mobilize affordable rentals across the country and reverse the difficulties faced by many citizens, especially young people and migrants, in accessing housing. Five months later, and amid social pressure with demonstrations for the right to housing in the country's main cities, some of the measures were put into writing through a bill that the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) filed in the Congress of Deputies. Specifically, in the text presented this Thursday, the Socialists incorporate many of the fiscal measures from the plan announced by Sánchez.

The Constitutional Court's (TC) blow to the owners of tourist apartments in Catalonia. The fine print of the ruling that endorses The government decree regulating tourist accommodation has severely affected the expectations of the sector, which had already raised property claims in the Generalitat (Catalan Government) for €4.28 billion. In the ruling—which includes a dissenting opinion signed by two judges—the high court overturns the arguments that the owners of tourist apartments had previously put forward to defend these compensations.

We have seen it with Casa Orsola. Another episode, this time with a happy ending for the tenants and many questions about the future of the other Casas Orsola in Barcelona. One flower does not make a summer. Every day we explain a residential crisis with many facets, with a very wide range of cases. Today we report the sad reality of a vocational training student – a very good student – of Moroccan origin who has had to live on the street: the help of the teachers has saved him and now he is waiting for a more stable solution. It is an extreme case. Others are much more common and less dramatic, but equally worrying: many young people from middle-class families (understood as a wide range of others) who cannot emancipate themselves because prices are skyrocketing. The limits of the stressed areas have slowed the rise, but it is not enough. The supply does not grow. Tourism and foreign investors continue to strain the market upwards. And a significant volume of empty apartments remains.