BarcelonaThe rental offer on major Barcelona real estate portals has seen two surprising changes in just one month. At the end of April, the number of ads on Idealista, Fotocasa and Habitaclia recorded a 39% decrease in one week. As ARA was able to verify, after approximately 30 days, offers on these three portals had increased by 32%. The initial decline and subsequent rise coincide with the date of the approval and cancellation of the decree law issued by the government regarding the regulation of seasonal rent.
This rule, approved under an emergency measure the day before the start of the electoral campaign for the Catalan elections, aims to put an end to the use of seasonal rentals – as well as rooms – in violation of the law, in other words, only to circumvent the price controls in place since mid-March. The rule obligated the owner to adopt this method, which was limited to leisure time, vacation, or for recreational or cultural reasons.
Since its approval, the decree law gave five working days for all advertisements and contracts to indicate the price of the last contract valid for the past five years, the reference price of the Spanish government’s index system and, in the event that the house was in a distressed area, if it was owned by a large owner.
Partial recovery
At that time, between the end of April and the beginning of May – the decree was approved on the 24th – when the number of ads decreased by 39% between the three portals, reaching 6,900 ads. In July last year, months after the housing law was approved, Idealista, Fotocasa and Habitaclia collected 15,600 homes. Now this decline has been partially corrected a few days later no From the Permanent Delegation of Parliament, which through the vote against Juntes and the abstention of the PSC – parties that could be decisive in moving forward with the regulation – meant the end of the procedure that reached the Catalan Chamber without it being possible to attach ERC support.
According to data collected by this newspaper, the three aforementioned portals now add up to approximately 8,180 advertisements, an increase of 32% from the 6,168 advertisements published on Thursday of last week before Parliament repealed the decree-law. These advertisements are still far from the 11,180 advertisements that accumulated on April 22, two days before the government approved the decree.
Temporary withdrawal
This decrease in the number of published advertisements and the subsequent increase, even if the same level of supply is not restored, is explained by the entry into force of the decree and its cancellation, according to the director of the Barcelona Urban Property Chamber. , Oscar Jorges. “Maybe what people did was take homes off the market momentarily. This was to be expected.” A reality that the real estate company Amat Immobiliaris, which also manages seasonal rentals, has witnessed firsthand: it has withdrawn most of the announcements that were waiting for Parliament, its general manager, Geoffrey Hommides, told ARA.
It is difficult to calculate the impact this decree may have on the sector. According to Gorgues and Homedes, this would have caused a decrease in rental supply because many owners would have transferred their apartments to the buying and selling market.
The “hole” that allows the show to escape
Regarding the rental offer, on the portals it is the lowest in the past year, although it must be taken into account that it is not completely representative. The head of the Metropolitan Housing Observatory, Carmi Trella, explained to this newspaper a few days ago that prices on the portals are inflated due to the presence of seasonal rentals and because advertisements for low prices disappear.
“It was clear that seasonal rent would be a loophole, and we criticized it from the beginning. If there is another market, B, that they can access and make more money, you create incentives for them to move from one market to another.” “The PSOE has known for several months that this loophole exists,” Tenants Union spokesperson Carme Arcarazo explained to ARA.
“Normally, what is on the portals is somewhat exaggerated; in the current context, seasonal factors dominate, and this does not reflect everything that is happening in the rental market,” economist and UB professor Charles Badinis explains to ARA. “What is clear is that,” Badinis adds. “The regulation has two big loopholes from the beginning: seasonal rentals and room rents, and the biggest problem is that the landlord has a loophole for not adhering to the regulation.”
Now, with the Catalan road exhausted, the ball is on the roof of the Spanish government, which has set up a working group – which also includes the Tenants’ Union – to regulate seasonal rentals, the establishment of which is included in the government’s housing law. The law was issued a year ago. It has met twice so far.
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