The province of Tarragona registered in April 2026 the largest year-on-year increase in rent in Catalonia, with 21.31%, according to the monthly report from pisos.com. The rebound contrasts with the provincial average price, which remains the lowest in the community at 8.98 euros per square meter.
The main market tension appears there. Tarragona leads the Catalan annual increases, but at the same time it recorded the lowest monthly advance of the four provinces with 0.18% compared to March, while the regional average stood at 6.48% year-on-year.
Tarragona led the annual rise despite Catalonia's slower monthly progress
The provincial data stands out from the rest of the Catalan map. Girona was the province with the largest monthly increase in April, with 2.60%, while Tarragona barely advanced 0.18% in a month, although in the comparison with April 2025 it was the one that became more expensive.
In Catalonia, rent reached 16.72 euros per square meter in April.
That level places the community as the third most expensive in Spain, only behind Madrid and the Balearic Islands. In the country as a whole, the average stood at 14.64 euros per square meter, with year-on-year growth of 11.33%.
Within Catalonia, the distance between provinces remains wide. Tarragona maintains the most affordable price, with 8.98 euros per square meter, far from Barcelona, which reached 18.98 euros and was placed as the third most expensive province in Spain.
"Accessing a rental property has become a competitive, restrictive, and, in many cases, exclusionary process" - Ferran Font, director of Studies, pisos.com
Font's valuation accompanies a scenario in which the price increase is not shared equally. Tarragona starts from much lower prices than Barcelona, but accelerates more strongly in the annual comparison.
The Tarragona capital fell 0.73% in one month and rose 5.09% in one year
In the city of Tarragona, April's behavior also showed a mix of trends. The capital registered a monthly decrease of 0.73%, the seventh sharpest decline among Spanish capitals, but in interannual terms, rent rose by 5.09%.
Barcelona reached 30.24 euros per square meter.
That evolution placed Tarragona as the seventh capital where rent became more expensive in the last year. The provincial reading and that of the capital point in the same direction, with descents or very contained advances in the short term and clear increases compared to April 2025.
Font also links market pressure to regulation. The director of Estudios de pisos.com maintains that regulatory insecurity affects owners and investors, who operate in an environment of unstable rules, and that this ends up impacting the available supply.
In that context, Barcelona continues as the most expensive capital in Spain to rent housing, with an average price of 30.24 euros per square meter.