After filling more newspaper pages than any other street in the city for years and also becoming the subject of legal disputes, Consell de Cent now promises to become one of the most studied streets in the Catalan capital. Two years after its inauguration, the first academic studies on this urban transformation have begun to emerge. In addition to what is explained above regarding the impact on rental prices, a report by the Barcelona Institute of Economics—linked to the UB—by academics Celia Estruch Garcia, Albert Solé-Ollé, Filippo Tassinari, and Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal has recently been published, analyzing the electoral impact of policymaking. In this case, the study concludes that support for Barcelona en Comú increased between 1.5 and 3 percentage points among voters living in the green area.
The Consell de Cent green axis toll: an additional 14% increase in rents
Academic research warns of the risk of "green gentrification" if compensatory measures are not taken.
BarcelonaGreener but also more expensive. The transformation of Barcelona's Consell de Cent street has impacted mobility, temperature, and air quality, but also rent prices. This is corroborated by the study by professors Josep Maria Raya and Ghizlen Ouasbaa from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and Pedro de Solà-Morales Casals from Erasmus University Rotterdam, entitled Price of Green: Rental Market Effects of Barcelona's Green Axes Policy It confirms that rents in the areas closest to the green axis of Consell de Cent have suffered an average of between 12% and 14% additional increase in price compared to the rest of the city. Between 181 and 202 euros more per month.
To reach this conclusion, the authors of the report have analyzed data from 573,000 rental advertisements on the real estate portal Idealista between January 2018 and December 2024. Within this broad sample, they have divided the advertisements into three meters, apartments located in three categories: apartments located in three categories: apartments located meters away from the green axes of Consell de Cent, Rocafort, Enric Granados, and Girona. A set that they have also compared with how rents have increased in other areas of the city located between one and six kilometers from the new green axes.
This has allowed researchers to confirm that, while rental prices in the rest of the city had increased by an average of 26%, the areas closest to the new green axis had seen a greater increase. Specifically, rental prices had increased between 12.6% and 14% in those homes that were within the first two areas. In contrast, the study did not perceive any significant impact on those apartments that are already 500 meters away from the urban development. In absolute terms, monthly rent has increased by nearly 200 euros more for residents living near the Consell de Cent green axis than for those in the rest of the city. This translates to approximately 2,400 euros per year.
![Facades of buildings on Consell de Cent street in Barcelona.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 2474 3711"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
A detailed analysis of the data helps clarify how this increase has worked. From the outset, the authors emphasize that the price increase does not occur while the construction work is underway and is particularly noticeable once the renovation is completed, in May 2023. This is when the results of the urban transformation are already evident: the differential between the increase in rental prices throughout the city and those around Consell de Cent skyrockets. A housing boom in 2024—which established a 3% rent increase ceiling—is halting the double-digit increase and causing price increases to once again be homogeneous throughout the city.
The research also shows that apartments on ground and middle floors experience higher increases than those on higher floors. This is something the authors attribute to several factors. On the one hand, they point out that lower-rise apartments are the most affected by the impact of the urban transformation because they were previously more exposed to noise and traffic pollution. On the other hand, they emphasize that the higher floors already had good views and less noise, so they had a higher base price, making it difficult for such steep price increases to occur.
"Green gentrification"
However, the study does not analyze whether there are substantial price differences between different sections of the green axis. The authors argue that if they made too many divisions, the sections would have few listings and statistical power would be lost. The objective, they point out, was to capture the average effect of urban policy as a whole. To adjust the results, they did eliminate those listings with extreme and inconsistent values, as well as those few apartments located at heights higher than eleven stories and very unusual in the area.
The researchers also argue that they decided to analyze the rental market rather than the sales market because it was a less-studied case. Having conducted their research, they conclude that green axes improve environmental quality and the urban attractiveness of the streets, but they also generate "green gentrification," as they lead to higher rental prices and, therefore, "a risk of displacement of middle- and low-income households."
For this reason, the authors of the analysis argue that green policies in dense areas with a tight rental market, such as Barcelona, "can have regressive redistributive effects if not combined with housing access measures" such as the promotion of affordable apartments or rent regulation.
