Not the neighborhood of Salamanca, not Pedralbes, not Vallvidrera-Tibidabo, not Somosaguas... The Ciutat Jardí neighborhood in Lleida surpasses them all and is, according to the Tax Agency, in second position on the list of richest neighborhoods. In the ranking, which is established by postal codes and with data from 2021, Ciutat Jardí records an average gross income per taxpayer of 102,360 euros, only surpassed by La Moraleja (Alcobendas, Madrid), which leads the list with 190,949 euros per taxpayer.
The Lleida district, in full expansion – one of the last villas under construction has a budget of eight million – occupies the place that in 2020 Ciudad Vieja of A Coruña occupied, in the domains of Amancio Ortega, leader of Inditex. The position of Ciutat Jardí is surprising, which in this last count has almost doubled the average gross income and has gone from 54,797 to 102,360 euros, bearing in mind that there are only 61 other taxpayers.
It is the neighborhood of the owners of leading companies in their sector in Spain based in Lleida and the Fringe and also of some lucky family who have built several houses there with the fortune of a favored Euromillions. The neighborhood association, which considers that the lack of services such as schools or centers for the elderly increases the cost of living in the neighborhood, has agreed not to value the statistic, which is strange to many of them. "I don't understand how we can be in front of neighborhoods where elite footballers live, many families have resources, but we don't consider ourselves rich", said a neighbor on Friday when she was walking home with hiking poles.
In the last year, several buildings and more than forty chalets have been built there. "Each new villa that is built seems bigger and more expensive", explains a resident of what he considers "the poor area of the neighbourhood".
According to the real estate company Finques Prats, in multi-family residential housing, the square meter is sold between 2,500 and 3,000 euros; in single-family houses, between 1,800 and 2,000, and in detached villas, from 2,000 euros onwards. There are few homes for sale. Several houses are being advertised on the internet these days, one for half a million and another for a million euros.
Xavier Prats, manager of Finques Prats, is a resident of the neighborhood. He says he lives in the poor area of a neighborhood where most of the owners of the big companies in Lleida and the Fringe reside, most of them in chalets behind the arboretum, in farms with a minimum area of 600 square meters and in houses with more presence. "The movement - says Prats - started in 2015, when families who previously lived in the residential area of Alpicat (twelve kilometers from Lleida) or in Cerdera (on the outskirts of city, near the golf course)”.
The architect Josep Bunsesc also lives in Ciutat Jardí, who, in addition to his home, signs other projects in the area. He, like many other people, was also surprised by the ranking. His projects are, in his words, "houses with a wooden structure, single-family homes, in some of them family members live and work, they are interested in a place with a pleasant outdoor space, but they are neither bigger nor more more expensive than the ones we do in other places, we have done more expensive ones in other neighborhoods and municipalities". Many owners have opted for the capture of solar energy actively with solar panels, and passively, with the windows to avoid using heating, and in the summer shading systems and cooling systems that work with solar panels.
It is the area with the most swimming pools in the city, they add up to 30% of the total, with 180, and with fewer pets. According to the municipal census, 15,239 dogs and 2,332 cats live in Lleida. Including dogs and cats, Ciutat Jardí has 114 animals. Pardinyes, with 1,487, is the neighborhood that tops this ranking.
In the last municipal elections, the PSC won in Ciutat Jardí, with 475 votes, 106 more than in 2019. The PP obtained 326, 203 more, and Vox, 99, 86 more. ERC went down, which registered 305 votes (lost 202), and Junts was the second most voted party, with 461, and lost 91. Comú got 98, 24 less. Activem, which was presented for the first time, had 132, and the CUP, 73 (33 less). Of the 27 councilors of Lleida City Council, two, the socialist Begoña Iglesias (in government) and Xavi Estrada (ERC), in the opposition, live in Ciutat Jardí. With several interruptions due to poor telephone coverage (one of the neighbors' complaints), Begoña Iglesias defines it as a "comfortable, high quality of life" neighborhood, the neighborhood that all cities would like to have, with a discreet lifestyle. It is so discreet that, in fact, it was chosen to hide marijuana plantations. In July, the national police dismantled eight plantations in two high-level villas and arrested two Albanian men in this operation.
