Despite the interest of large investment funds and real estate speculators in acquiring a large portion of the housing pie in Barcelona, the Catalan capital maintains a certain balance when it comes to the distribution of property in its park. residential. This is revealed by the report Structure and concentration of property ownership in the city of Barcelona 2023, which was recently delivered by the Barcelona Metropolitan Observatory of Habitat (OHB). The study estimates the number of homes in the city at 794,272 and the number of owners of those apartments at 524,357, which represents an average of 1.5 homes per owner and a very high volume of owners who only have one, in their immense majority, most likely, the one in which they usually reside.
The study allows us to get a fairly precise idea, beyond the political digressions, of the weight of the large owners in the distribution of the housing stock in a city that, according to the official data provided last week by the Generalitat, in the third quarter of 2023, set a new record in terms of the average price of a new rental (1,171.28 euros/month).
Estimates made by the OHB indicate that the owners of more than 15 apartments in Barcelona represent 0.5% of the total owners (2,593) and are the owners of 14% of the city's housing stock, that is, 111,140 units. Although for large – very large – holders, the 14 owners who accumulate, each of them, more than 300 homes. If we bring the magnifying glass closer to the large holders who own more than 15 homes, we see that in 46% of the cases they are natural persons and in 54% legal persons and very mostly (48% of the total) companies.
The OHB report points out that the property structure in Barcelona “is characterized by a vast majority of owners corresponding to natural persons.” Specifically, these represent 97% of the total owners and own 84.7% of the homes in the city.
The study to which La Vanguardia has had access has been prepared by the Observatori Metropolità de l'Habitatge of Barcelona, dated December, basically from two statistical sources: the alphanumeric base of the General Directorate of the Cadastre and the registry municipal cadastral of the Barcelona City Council. It does not distinguish the use of the homes (whether they are habitual and permanent residences, second homes or for tourist use) or their tenure regime.
The OHB report also analyzes the distribution by neighborhood of the homes that make up Barcelona's deficient public housing stock. The percentage of public housing, increasingly oriented towards affordable rentals, has been advancing in recent years, but it is doing so at desperately slow steps. This situation could take a small leap forward if in the near future the administrations' promises to make housing policies their number one priority are confirmed in practice. The current reality indicates that there is a very long way to go: although the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area are among the regions of Spain that are producing the most public housing, this residential typology represents only 1.8% of the total.
In a dozen of Barcelona's 73 neighborhoods there is no record of the existence of any apartment owned by public administrations. And only five neighborhoods have more than 15% of publicly owned housing. Can Peguera stands out among all, where 69.1% of the 1,001 registered homes fall into this category. They are followed by Torre Baró (31.7%); the Marina del Prat Vermell-Zona Franca (29.5%); Vallbona (23.3%) and Baró de Viver (22.5%). These are, as a general rule, neighborhoods with family incomes that are among the lowest in Barcelona. In the data for the third quarter of 2023 published last week by the Generalitat, Torre Baró appeared precisely as the neighborhood in the city where you have to pay the least money for a new lease (494.68 euros per month), while in the neighborhood with the highest percentage of public housing, Can Peguera, in the first nine months of last year only two rental contracts have been signed out of a total of 30,152 signed in the municipality as a whole.
The Marina del Prat Vermell deserves special mention, where one of the largest housing reserves in the city is being defined – in practice, the creation of a new neighborhood – in which public flats will have a very relevant presence. This was certified a few days ago by Mayor Jaume Collboni during a visit to a promotion that will be delivered in the coming weeks in the aforementioned neighborhood of the Sants-Montjuïc district. There, the first mayor assured that Barcelona still has land to build housing, both protected and on the free market, and specifically cited the Marina del Prat Vermell, the northern area of 22@ and Sagrera-Bon Pastor.
