The most gentrified streets in Spain are in Barcelona

BarcelonaGentrification in a neighborhood means that there are increasingly more residents with high purchasing power—often from wealthier countries—forcing those with more modest incomes—often long-time residents—to move to areas further from the city center to find affordable living conditions. It's no secret that Barcelona has been experiencing gentrification for years, but a report from the Center for Demographic Studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has now quantified it. The conclusion is that the Catalan capital is the Spanish city experiencing this process most intensely and has the two most gentrified neighborhoods in the entire country.

The researchers, who published their study in the journal Perspectives Demogràfiques, sampled ten Spanish cities—only Barcelona was included in the Catalan sample—and subjected them, street by street, to a series of variables to create a gentrification index. These variables include the increase in the young population, the number of residents with university degrees, the number of residents in high-level jobs, the number of people from wealthy countries, and the number of people living alone. The study also analyzed how rental prices have increased in the area. This index maps the neighborhoods of Spanish cities—Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Palma, Valencia, Bilbao, Málaga, Las Palmas, Seville, Zaragoza, and Murcia, in order of gentrification—using colors to indicate their level of gentrification: the redder the color, the higher the index, with 1 being the highest value. Two Barcelona neighborhoods come very close to 1. First is Barceloneta, with an index of 0.941. Next is El Born, especially the lower section bordering Barceloneta, with a value of 0.925. These two neighborhoods, both in the Ciutat Vella district, are the most gentrified in Spain. Following behind is the center of Madrid, specifically the streets surrounding Plaça del Dos de Maig, with a value of 0.919. The most central part of Madrid is completely painted red, as is the case with many neighborhoods in Barcelona, ​​such as a large part of the Eixample district.

Expansion into the more peripheral neighborhoods

The study analyzes the expansion of gentrification from 2011 to 2021. This decade has seen the phenomenon confirmed in Barcelona's most central neighborhoods. In fact, the Catalan capital leads in practically all variables linked to gentrification, which is also associated with rising rents. But the study also confirms that this phenomenon has begun to be felt in more distant areas. Specifically, it indicates that gentrification is now spreading to neighborhoods such as Sant Antoni, the Sagrada Família area, and the interior of the Sant Martí and Sants-Montjuïc districts. In fact, all the cities analyzed have experienced significant increases in rental prices, except for Zaragoza and Murcia, where the increases have been limited to very specific areas. Gentrification is now noticeable beyond the two largest cities in Spain, especially in Palma and Valencia, which are the urban centers closest to Barcelona and Madrid.