Little by little the times of rent a used home and agree on future improvements with its owner with a view to staying there for a long time. The majority of homes advertised in Barcelona’s dwindling rental market are not only recently renovated but in many cases they have been furnished and prepared to adapt to the new trends of ephemeral or seasonal rentals. This is one of the elements that propel the prices upwards, point out the real estate agents (API)Besides of deficit of available housing, among others. Only in that context can it be understood that at least three out of four rental ads in the main real estate portals are already more than 1,500 euros.
The usual exercise of looking for a rental apartment after the summer, whether for work, studies or forced moving, has become a ordeal this year. Supply has not been so scarce for many years, and prices have never been so high. He check –without scientific desire– carried out in this newspaper, looking for a price from which the offer is wide, confirms the gradual increase in price. As reported in another article, only two hundred apartments among those announced this week are below a thousand euros, which makes the search in that range a daunting mission and very competitive. But opportunities don’t improve substantially until you cross the line. barrier of 1,500.
The largest offer is found in ‘Idealistic’, with ‘only’ about 4,620 apartments published in the middle of this week. More than 3,500 (77%, or three out of four) of them cost more than that price. And in fact, more than half are quoted at more than 2,000 euros. In the case of ‘Habitaclia’2,056 of its 2,605 available homes were at more than 1,500 euros (79% of its repertoire), while in ‘Fotocasa’, with 2,015 of a total of 2,709 advertisements, accounted for 75.4%. In other words, anyone with a budget inferior must face a supply that is very, very inferior to real demand.
Cocktail of causes
The evolution of recent months is repeatedly attributed by the real estate sector to a mix Of elements. On the one hand the shortage of rental housing, which is aggravated by the exit from the market of many properties of small owners who have decided to sell instead of rent due to the risks that the new housing law implies (for them). On the other hand, a Greater demand of new landlords who have not been able to buy an apartment due to the increase in mortgage costs and have switched (by force) to renting. Also the growing nomadic population in Barcelona, of students or teleworkers, capable of absorbing the new housing modalities: be they rooms in shared apartments (increasingly more expensive and sophisticated) or seasonal apartments that can easily cost 3,000 euros per month for a medium-sized apartment in a non-peripheral neighborhood. The Catalan capital, despite everything, is still much cheaper than other large European cities.
And conquering that demand implies that the homes are qualitatively increasingly better. Also to be competitive and be able to reach the most demanding clients. The manager of the Barcelona Urban Property ChamberÒscar Gorgues, highlights that more and more homes are being renovated to improve their quality, which necessarily translates into higher market prices. In this way, the rehabilitated supply affects the average increase in rental prices. The owner believes that the improvements will allow him to reach a creditworthy landlord.
The biggest loser is the tenant with the lowest purchasing power, not only because their possibilities are reduced, but because the owners are especially selective in the face of the difficulties that the law adds for a potential eviction for non-payment.
Search to improve
It should also be noted that some landlords have become accustomed to moving based on their salary improvement or personal situation, so they value that the home offers the maximum of comforts within their price threshold. On the other hand, they refuse to undertake renovations with the perspective of a contract beyond five years, knowing that they may possibly change homes.
“Perversely, the housing law encourages a tenant to move more frequently in the case of furnished apartments, given that they no longer pay agency fees,” they point out from a long-standing real estate agency in Eixample. Now there are those who are willing to stay only the minimum time required in a long-term contract (six months or a year) because it is cheaper than a seasonal one, and they go into “permanent search mode to improve street conditions or conditions.” “adds the same source, because it will not entail added costs.
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Carles Sala, spokesperson and director of the Legal Area of the Col·legi d’Agents de la Property and API Catalunya, agrees that with “a lot of demand, the best is chosen.” And he emphasizes that in part the wave of reforms and improvements are due to the fact that later it is not known if they can be attributed to income. The expert regrets “the rush to approve the housing law before the elections”, which he believes has harmed the market.
He believes that it becomes “ridiculous” in considering one of the 140 selected Catalan municipalities as a stressed area (by the Government). In the case of Barcelona, with the largest rental volume, the trend in new contracts to incorporate in a segregated way (aside from the strict rent) the expenses linked to the property and the IBI, for example, stands out. “We are recommending it because if stressed areas end up being declared, these concepts cannot be incorporated and will be considered to be within the resulting income after the formula that is used, whether in article 17.6 or 17.7 of the law,” he says.