The purchase of entire buildings with more than 10 homes in Barcelona fell by 31% in the last year, dropping from 217 transactions to 149 in 2025. The City Council links this decrease to the tightening of regulations on the rental market and to a lower expected return on real estate investment.
The drop coincides with another relevant change in the city. While caps on regular rentals have been in effect since March 2024, the signing of seasonal rental contracts plummeted by 53% in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, precisely when the limit for this type of rental was being debated and approved.
Riera attributes the drop in purchases to two years of new rules
Joan Ramon Riera, Housing Commissioner, maintains that the regulations implemented in the last two years have reduced the attractiveness of these types of transactions on entire buildings. His interpretation is that the market has begun to discount a smaller margin for quick profits due to pressure on rents.
In this context, Barcelona has applied limits to the price of regular rentals since March 2024 and to seasonal rentals since December 2025. Riera also supports the law to prohibit speculative purchases that the Parliament of Catalonia must approve.
"It is necessary because it will better protect the right to housing" - Joan Ramon Riera, Housing Commissioner
The adjustment is not only seen in investments in entire buildings. It is also reflected in the average price of new contracts, which fell by 2.7% since the regulation came into effect in the first quarter of 2024, settling at 1,161 euros per month.
Without these caps, the average rent would range between 1,318.6 and 1,429.2 euros per month. The difference between this scenario and the price finally observed points to the impact that the intervention has had on the contracts signed in the city.
The gap between income and rent decreased by 20 points in two years
The report from the Metropolitan Housing Observatory adds another piece of data to the change in cycle. The difference between average household income and the average price of new contracts decreased by 20 points in two years, going from 91.2 points in 2023 to 70.4 points in 2025.
Carles Donat, co-director of the Observatory, frames this improvement within a logic of immediate containment of the access problem. In his opinion, the reduction of short-term pressure must coexist with longer-term measures regarding public supply and social housing stock.
"Reduce the affordability crisis in the short term, while implementing structural measures in the medium to long term, such as increasing the social housing stock and increasing public investment" - Carles Donat, co-director of the Metropolitan Housing Observatory
Another of the observed movements affects seasonal rentals. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the signing of these contracts fell by 53% compared to the previous year, in parallel with the debate and approval of the law that sets a maximum for this formula.
This setback aligns with the interpretation of market analysts gathered in the public housing debate, which considers part of the use of seasonal rentals as a way to circumvent the regulation of regular rentals. The data gains more weight because it comes after the extension of controls to this modality.
The Observatory's report places the difference between average household income and the average price of new rental contracts at 70.4 points in 2025, compared to the 91.2 points recorded in 2023.