Rental prices in Barcelona have fallen around 20% over 12 months to the end of June, the biggest annualised fall since 2002, according to figures from Barcelona city hall.

The average cost of renting a flat fell from 1,200 Euros in 2008 to 980 Euros today.

The growing number of smaller apartments available for rent partly explains the fall in the average price, but prices in terms of Euros/m2 were also down, by 8%, indicating that prices fell across the board.

Cheaper rental prices are the result of a fast growing supply of properties for rent, as developers and investors try to rent out the properties they can’t sell.

Almost all the price fall took place in the last 6 months. Prices/m2 dropped by just 1% in the preceding 6 months.

This represents the biggest fall since 2002, when the city hall started publishing rental price data. Between 2002 and 2007 rental prices in Barcelona rose by 63%.