With its flat whites at 3.50 euros, industrial decor and an overwhelmingly international clientele, the Right Side Coffee Bar, "roasting and brewing since 2012", seems transplanted from Brooklyn to the heart of Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. A blonde woman types on her computer. Next to it, a boy in a hipster cap reads poetry in Persian. He is Iranian and arrived five years ago. A couple of designers, Romanians settled in the city, converse at another table. A couple of Korean tourists enter, she in a bubblegum pink cap, he in a black hunter.
The barista, from La Rioja, observes the panorama and summarizes: “Natives? That lady is Catalan, from the neighborhood. And that other gentleman. The rest, from outside. A mixture of tourists and foreigners who live around here and are regular customers”.
This is the ground zero of the new expat Barcelona. The part of the city that extends around the Palau de la Generalitat, in the alleys of the old street, constitutes the census section with the highest density of high-income immigrants. One in four residents was born in a country richer than Spain, according to calculations by La Vanguardia based on the 2021 INE census.
In the whole of Barcelona, there are now roughly 80,000, four times more than three decades ago. More than 83,000 if we take the latest data from the register, from 2023, as a reference.
It is the immigrants who find the doors open. Attracted with tax advantages and tailor-made visas, they represent an injection of talent and money... and also of gentrification. The proliferation of specialty cafes is one of the thermometers. Another, the increase in rent. Despite the fact that they are not proportionally that many, their high purchasing power shapes and transforms the city, its urban geography, the socio-economic fabric.
Jule Schwalb, a 27-year-old German, sips a coffee at the Right Side bar. Cocktail maker, he moved a year ago "for the experience and for work"; Barcelona is "the world capital of cocktails", he explains in English. He was coming for six months, but he's still here. He shares a flat with two Lebanese, an Italian and a Chinese. Even though he charges a thousand euros less than in Frankfurt, there are reasons that impose on his pocket. "I am growing professionally. And I love the atmosphere of the city. Food and drink. The climate. The people are very open, very international", says Jule. In his circle, he admits, there are few natives. “One. I have a friend from here."
Barcelona, like Madrid - and to a lesser extent, other cities such as Valencia or Malaga - has become a pole of attraction for high-income immigrants.
What is an expat? Economist Judit Montoriol, researcher at CaixaBank Research, ventures a definition. "They are those who do not emigrate out of necessity, to escape a difficult situation in their country, but by choice, in search of an experience. They arrive attracted by what Spain has to offer: quality of life, good climate, culture, gastronomy. They also weigh, I am thinking above all in middle and upper class Latin Americans, issues such as security or access to quality healthcare and education”.
The phenomenon overflows the statistics. The census does not allow immigrants to be classified by income level, but it does include the country of origin. Taking as a criterion foreigners who were born in a country with a higher GDP than Spain, the district of Barcelona with the highest concentration is Ciutat Vella, where in some blocks of houses they represent 24.4% of the neighborhood. Other hot areas are the Quadrat d'Or del Eixample, Gràcia, Poblenou, Poble Sec and Pedralbes, with concentrations exceeding 10%.
If in 1991 there were 18,536 people born in richer countries, in 2021 there were 77,247. They have multiplied by four, while the total population has fallen by 1%. In Madrid, they went from 31,018 to 68,137 in the same period; an increase of 120% against the total increase of 7%. These are significant data, but incomplete. The rich – or affluent – from poorer countries are left out: a Russian millionaire who buys a flat overlooking Diagonal Mar, an Indian engineer hired by a 22@ technology company or the Venezuelan businessman who walks around the Salamanca neighborhood. The phenomenon is particularly blurred in Madrid, which in recent years has attracted a large number of wealthy Latin Americans and is emerging as a small Miami.
In 2023, one out of every two homes sold in Barcelona by Engel real estate
They buy more expensive properties: in Barcelona, foreigners spent an average of 653,466 euros, compared to 612,120 euros for Engel's Spanish customers. The difference is more noticeable in Madrid: there they spent 1,067,414 euros on average compared to 988,447 of the nationals.
In Madrid, however, Engel has a lower proportion of foreign clients than in Barcelona: 23%, seven points more than in 2021. Mexicans, Americans, Italians, Filipinos, French and Argentines lead the list.
The pressure is also felt on the rental market. The Amat Immobiliaris agency manages 2,500 flats, mainly in middle-upper class areas. Its data shows an expat tsunami: 40% of contracts in Barcelona were signed by foreigners in 2023, says the general manager, Guifré Homedes. The pandemic marks the turning point. In 2019, they represented 15%.
It is also increasing in the metropolitan area: in Sant Cugat del Vallès and Sant Just Desvern the weight of foreigners has gone from 6% to 24%.
The most recurring profile is the young digital nomad, mostly European and with a large proportion of the French, Homedes points out. "Clearly it's a problem", he says. "In a market with such little supply, as in Barcelona, the local competes very poorly. Foreigners put upward pressure on prices, because they earn European salaries and can pay more. And what's more, when an owner has to choose between two tenants, he usually opts for the higher salary."
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has just announced that he will eliminate the golden visa, granted to foreigners who invest more than 500,000 euros in a property. Introduced in 2013 in the midst of the crisis, this measure has benefited around 10,000 non-EU citizens, with Chinese and Russians at the forefront. It is a minimal percentage of the total sales (there were 583,000 in 2023 alone), but the president raised the impact it has on cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia or Palma. "These are the cities that are facing a highly stressed housing market, where it is almost impossible to find decent housing for those who live and work there and pay taxes," he said.
Experts, however, are skeptical. "It's too small a segment of the market to move prices on a national scale," says Judit Montoriol. "It is true that it greatly affects certain neighborhoods, but it is necessary to see how much this factor weighs in relation to others. It is difficult to quantify it and to separate it from the fact that all of Barcelona itself, like other cities, is transforming and becoming very attractive both for this type of buyer and for many other people. It is part of a global phenomenon".
Jordi Asensio, owner of the Can Culleres restaurant, in Poblenou, experiences it "with a broken heart". "You are personally sorry. I grew up in Poblenou and, of my childhood friends, I am the only one who can live in the neighborhood. But from a business point of view, it benefits you", admits the chef. He estimates that 40% of his clientele are resident foreigners. The restaurant is largely staffed by expats who work in the 22@, with a salary that allows them to have lunch a la carte during the week. They are good customers. "They don't watch what they spend. They drink more expensive bottles of wine, they ask you for caviar off the menu or if they do a group menu they don't stick to the basics...", explains Asensio. He estimates that they spend around 50-55 euros per head, compared to 30-35 for the national customer. However, he emphasizes that the menu is only in Catalan and Spanish and he did not want to raise prices so as not to lose local customers.
Olivier Ramadour, Consul of France in Barcelona, is convinced that the statistics fall short. Its consulate has registered around 35,000 French residents in Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands, of which 20,000 in Barcelona. He estimates that the real number is triple; registering at a legation is not a mandatory procedure in an EU without borders.
The pandemic marked a turning point and the French who are now arriving are of a higher socioeconomic level, says the consul. An objective indicator is that the demand for public aid processed by the consulate has been falling for two or three years. Not only are fewer families applying, a higher percentage are also being denied, because applicants exceed the requirements in terms of income and assets.
"I notice a certain disconnection with the place - admits Ramadour-. I often meet French people who live here and do not speak a word of Spanish, let alone Catalan. They live in a bubble. It's an attitude that I don't like, but it's also true that they employ a lot of people."
José de Ros founded Eres Relocation Services in 2007, which offers support services to companies in the international transfer of employees. "We have not stopped growing, even in the worst moments of the crisis", he says. Among other things, he advises clients on the tax advantages they can take advantage of as remote workers, entrepreneurs or highly qualified professionals with the recent expansion of the Startups law.
The local authorities also roll out the red carpet for them. In Barcelona, the City Council launched the International Welcome Desk two years ago, aimed at this same profile of newcomers.
Liza Nikolova and Alex Gumarov, 38 and 36-year-old Russians, feel that they have found in Barcelona a refuge in which to raise their daughter. Liza is a manager in a large multinational and in 2022, after a few years in Turkey, she asked to move to Western Europe. They chose Barcelona over Dublin, Paris or London.
They don't regret it. "Let Alex explain it to you, he is the great ambassador of Barcelona", laughs Liza. "We love the sun. The possibility of outdoor sports. For people to be so open-minded. How life comes before work. And tolerance with different ways of living, with sexual orientation. It's so different in Russia!” says Alex. "And equality - adds Liza -. In Istanbul or Moscow a worker would never go to the same cafe as someone like me. Everything is mixed here and that's something I love."
The only thing that worries them is insecurity. They haven't had any mishaps, but many friends have been robbed.
They admit that they hang out mostly with Russians, but they take their daughter to a Catalan school. "Anna speaks Catalan and Spanish without an accent. He feels part of this society. I think it's a place to stay - says Liza. And the way Russia is, we don't have a place to go back to either."
