Barcelona’s residents have spoken, and the message is loud and clear: access to affordable housing has overtaken street crime as the most serious problem in the Catalan capital. According to the June 2025 edition of the City Hall’s municipal barometer, nearly 30% of respondents cited housing as their main concern—more than any other issue, by a considerable margin.
A steep shift in local priorities
In the last edition of the barometer, published in December 2024, housing was neck-and-neck with insecurity, with only a 0.1 percentage point difference between them. But the latest data marks an inflection point: while concern about insecurity has fallen six points to 23.1%, concern about housing has risen to 29.9%—cementing its place at the top of the worry list.
Rounding out the top three concerns in Barcelona is tourism, which has nearly doubled in perceived importance since December. Initially flagged by 5% of respondents, tourism now registers as a key issue for 9.8% of citizens, hinting at growing discomfort over mass tourism and its impact on daily life.
Housing angst peaks amid policy gridlock
The rising concern about housing coincides with an especially sensitive political moment. A possible agreement between the city’s Socialist-led government (PSC) and Junts, the main opposition party, to revise the infamous 30% housing rule has just collapsed.
The rule, introduced during the Colau years, requires developers to earmark 30% of new builds and major renovations for social housing. Its effectiveness has long been questioned, and reform talks had gained momentum—until they recently unraveled, adding yet another layer to the housing debate in a city where available, affordable flats are increasingly out of reach.
Reliable polling, mixed signals
The barometer results are based on 807 phone interviews carried out by Opinòmetre S.L. between 26 May and 3 June 2025. The findings not only track people’s perceptions of the city’s leading problems but also offer a snapshot of political sentiment—giving the PSC government of Mayor Jaume Collboni something to celebrate.
A slim majority of respondents (49.2%) rated the PSC’s work as good or very good, while 32.1% gave it a thumbs down. That marks a noticeable improvement from the previous barometer and is the best rating any municipal government has received since 2018. Only 30.2% of residents think Barcelona is improving overall, but Collboni remains the only local leader who earns a pass mark from voters, scoring 5.1 out of 10.
Socialists soar… but take projections with a pinch of salt
According to the data, if local elections were held today, the PSC would emerge as the clear frontrunner with 16.1% of the vote—a healthy jump of 4.2 points from their 2023 result. By comparison, BComú and ERC trail behind with 7.9% and 7.5%, respectively.
However, Junts, who actually won the last municipal elections under the leadership of Xavier Trias, appears to be in freefall. The latest voter intention figure grants them just 4%—a dramatic 9.5-point drop in support.
These numbers should be viewed cautiously, though. The barometer’s sample shows considerable bias in remembered voting behaviour: for example, 19.5% of respondents claimed they voted PSC in 2023, 7.6 points higher than reality, while the figure for Junts is lower than its actual 2023 result by more than two points.
CUP, which currently holds no seats in City Hall, surprisingly polls higher than the PP and Vox, revealing more cracks in the city’s political map. CUP is credited with 2.7% of voting intention, versus 2.4% for PP and 1.9% for Vox.
Civic behaviour: a background issue with deep roots
Interestingly, while the issue of “incivisme”—uncivil behaviour in public spaces—ranks just seventh in spontaneously mentioned concerns (2.7%), a whopping 83.4% of those polled agree it’s a serious or very serious issue. This wide perception gap suggests it’s an enduring background problem that affects daily life more subtly but no less significantly.
The City Hall is currently reviewing its ordinance on public space conduct and asked survey participants how best to tackle incivisme. The verdict: get tougher.
- 33.5% said the city should impose harsher fines
- 29.4% favoured more surveillance and policing
- Just 19% still believe in awareness-raising campaigns
What’s next?
The message to Barcelona’s leaders is unequivocal: housing is no longer just a pressing issue—it’s the issue. And as longstanding worries like insecurity recede, new tensions caused by tourism, civic behaviour, and political dysfunction are bubbling up. Whether the PSC and others can ride this wave or be pulled under by it will depend entirely on their ability to deliver real, visible progress—especially for the city’s renters, buyers, and would-be residents increasingly priced out.
And with one in three Barcelonans now struggling to secure a decent roof over their heads, time’s running out for rhetoric. The barometer has spoken.
