For several years now, Barcelona has been waging war against companies offering private flats for short-term rental. This is due to a hostility tourism that seems to have no limits. Last year, Barcelona welcomed almost 11.5 million tourists. And in a survey, 66% of Barcelonans said that the city had reached saturation point.
Removing housing units from the traditional property market is leading to a shortage of homes for local residents. And rental prices that are unaffordable for many. Barcelona City Council estimates that some 10,000 flats have disappeared from the rental market as a result. Airbnb and co.
However, the town council has already cleaned up its act. No new tourist flats have been authorised in the town in recent years. At the same time, the local government has closed 9,700 illegal tourist flats since 2016. Nearly 3,500 flats have been reclaimed as primary accommodation for local residents. Last year, however, 2.89 million tourists still stayed in these Airbnb accommodations. This represents an increase of 22.6% compared to 2022. And 25% of the total number of tourists staying in the Catalan capital.
The housing shortage, Barcelona's biggest problem
On Friday 21 June, the city's mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced a further step in the fight against Airbnb. The municipality should completely ban the letting of flats to tourists by November 2028. The city will revoke the licences of the 10,101 flats currently authorised to be let on a short-term basis.
" We face up to what we think is the biggest problem of Barcelona" said Jaume Collboni at a conference organised by the municipality, as reported by Reuters. The boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona, Spain's most visited city by foreign tourists, means that some residents can't afford to buy a flat after rents rose by 68 % over the last ten years and the cost of buying a house rose by 38 %."said the mayor. He has also received the support of the Spanish Housing Minister, Isabel Rodriguez. "It's about making every effort to ensure access to affordable housing." she posted on X.
New opportunities for the hotel industry
Such a decision is rather good news for hotels. Last year, the city welcomed 7.78 million tourists - a market share of 68.5%. The construction of new hotels in the districts most frequented by tourists has already been banned since 2015. However, according to Jaume Collboni, this ban could be relaxed in view of the disappearance of tourist flats.
Airbnb has so far made no comment. Meanwhile, APARTUR, Barcelona's tourist flat association, is already predicting unemployment and poverty for the local population. As for travellers, they are likely to pay a high price with hotel rates rising as a result of the disappearance of this competition.
