The imbalance between the supply of rental apartments and the demand of citizens is accentuated, especially in Barcelona. While prices continue to rise and more than half (51.9%) of the offers already exceed 1,600 euros per month, the majority of those looking for an apartment (58.3%) continue trying for less than 1,000 euros, a segment that is going down and that represents 10.9% of the offer.
The data for the third quarter of 2023, collected from real estate portals by the Barcelona Metropolitan Observatory, confirm the enormous deficit in the supply of affordable housing not only in the capital, but also in its metropolitan area and the rest of Catalonia. Not in vain, for the first time, no advertisement for an apartment for rent in Barcelona was found for less than 600 euros, a segment that represented 9.3% of effective demand during the previous year. Quite the contrary, the predominant price (in 51.9% of cases) is higher than 1,600 euros, a range that is only willing to cover 6.6% of demand.
The Catalan average confirms the imbalance: half of the demand on real estate portals (50.5%) is concentrated in homes with prices below 800 euros, but in this section only 18.1% of the available offer. The negative evolution in the range between 800 and 1,000 euros also stands out.
Overall, the average rental prices grew by 6.9% between the second and third quarters of last year, and the year-on-year increase rose by 20.8%, driven by the upward trend in Barcelona (23.7% ). The increase in the metropolitan area, not including Barcelona, is 17.1% and in the rest of the province it is 18.4%. In parallel, the average prices of rental demand, conditioned by the supply of the portals, registered a quarterly growth of 0.7% and an interannual growth of 6.2%. Even so, they are 15 points less than the increase in supply prices, which reaffirms the imbalance.
However, the reality of purchasing power prevails and the average prices of signed rental contracts (taking into account the deposits deposited with Incasòl) are below the offer prices of real estate portals. According to the report by the Observatori Metropolità de l'Habitatge, in Barcelona city the average number of contracts is 13.3% lower, and in the metropolitan area without Barcelona 5%. In the rest of Catalonia, the price of contracts is, on average, 16% lower than that of advertisements.
