Barcelona continues to be a global and cosmopolitan city, attractive and well connected, according to the foreigners who reside there. However, the buts are gaining ground: the cost of living in the city drops for the first time. In Barcelona life is good but it is becoming more and more expensive. The price of housing, which debuts in the International Talent Monitor of Barcelona Global, registers a record negative score: 2.6 points out of 7. Another aspect that this extensive biennial survey introduces is that of air quality: it does not fare well either. and is placed on the black list, along with the slowness of administration and taxes.
“The opinion of foreigners who reside in Barcelona is not that different from ours, perhaps they even value the city better... but we have a serious problem and it is housing,” acknowledges the president of the association, Maite Barrera. So much so that the price to buy or rent an apartment gets the worst score in the entire report. “There is little supply and prices are rising,” concludes Barrera, who rules out that the demand from these foreigners who come to settle in Barcelona is one of the main causes of this increase. “The problem is that new construction is not being built – added Mercè Conesa, general director of Barcelona Global –, the temporality does not correspond to the majority profile of those surveyed.”
30% of the report's participants have been living in the city for more than ten years and half say they have no intention of leaving Barcelona, although they maintain that the decision depends on working conditions and prospects. In this sense, in addition to the increase in housing prices, which is influencing a negative perception about the evolution of the cost of living and the loss of purchasing power, it is notable that 74% of those surveyed claim to be not satisfied with their salaries: 51% of the participants earn up to 50,000 euros per year and 49% exceed this figure (19% earn up to 75,000 euros; 11% earn up to 100,000 and 19% earn more than 150,000 euros annually).
The sixth edition of the Talent Monitor has been prepared based on the responses, grouped into seven areas, from 1,008 respondents of 90 nationalities (64% European, 23% American and 9% Asian). 78% live in the city of Barcelona and 22% in the metropolitan area. 66% work in the city, 10% in management positions; 5% in startups, 3% are digital nomads and 6% are looking for a job.
“Barcelona may be the best city in southern Europe to live and work, but if we want to be an international pool we have to do things,” added Xavier Comerma, deputy general director of Banco Sabadell and territorial director of Catalonia of the entity, who collaborates in the preparation of the report and that it has a specific office for foreign professionals in Barcelona that has more than 11,000 clients.
Among the challenges raised by the report are the need to promote new improvements in tax matters, a global strategy for affordable and social housing, the simplification and digitalization of administrative procedures, promoting more affordable international schools and defending more sustainable practices in the city. Regarding future opportunities, respondents point out the need to focus on cultural supply and production, sustainability, the startup ecosystem and education and on promoting the technology, biotechnology and research sector.
