The head of Barcelona’s Chamber of Urban Property says price controls and top-heavy regulations are pushing landlords out of the market while worsening access to rental housing.
“This regulation that was supposed to improve the market has had the opposite effect: more owners are selling, others are switching to short-term lets, and many are simply leaving their homes empty,” says Óscar Gorgues in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Periódico
A year and a half after rent controls were introduced in Catalonia, confidence in the region’s rental framework is fraying—and fast. At the centre of this discontent is Óscar Gorgues, general manager of the Cambra de la Propietat Urbana de Barcelona, a 10,000-member organisation which has been advocating for property owners since 1907.
Gorgues believes the rental market in Catalonia and especially in Barcelona is sliding into dysfunction due to a combination of overregulation, uncertainty, and exclusion of landlords from policy-making. In a wide-ranging interview, he claims that current rules have done more to alienate property owners than to offer solutions to a strained housing market.
Regulation without representation
Since July 2023, Catalonia has enforced rent control legislation designed to limit what property owners can charge in so-called “strained markets.” However, Gorgues says the effect has been a sharp drop in available rentals and a migration of properties from long-term rental to other less-regulated uses.
“Supply has shrunk significantly. Many landlords are walking away entirely,” says Gorgues. “The result is exactly the opposite of what was intended—fewer rental properties, more competition among tenants, and lower-quality housing stock.”
Beyond the economic effects, he’s especially critical of the policymaking process itself. “Owners were simply not consulted. Regulations were imposed unilaterally, without real dialogue. This has created a completely unbalanced legal framework,” he explains.
Unequal burdens
One of the most controversial elements of the new regulatory regime is how it defines a so-called “gran tenedor” or “large landlord”: anyone who owns five or more residential properties—including primary residences and unsold new builds.
“It’s an arbitrary and deeply flawed definition,” says Gorgues. “We’re lumping together retired couples with five small flats and global investment funds. That comparison lacks any technical or economic sense.”
The problem, he argues, is that this broad-brush classification imposes a disproportionate burden on owners with little professional infrastructure—people for whom property income supplements their pension or savings.
At the same time, regulatory pressure and legal insecurity, including difficult eviction procedures and long delays in repossessing properties, are making the rental business increasingly unattractive.
“Some of our members are simply giving up. Others are trying seasonal or room-by-room rental, or just leaving properties empty while they decide what to do next.”
Barcelona tenants in limbo
Meanwhile, finding a rental in Barcelona has never been harder. According to Gorgues, demand is far outstripping supply and landlords are tightening tenant requirements to mitigate risk.
“Even middle-income earners are struggling to rent, and the city simply can’t absorb more demand. We’re now seeing a resurgence in room rentals—a phenomenon we thought we’d outgrown.”
He also points out the city’s changing demographic profile. “A third of Barcelona’s population is now foreign-born, and around 40% are in an age band that coincides with peak housing demand,” he notes. “This creates even more pressure on an already overstretched market.”
Policy gaps and political inertia
Asked about the local government’s housing strategy, Gorgues sees more paralysis than progress. He acknowledges that Mayor Collboni’s pledge to build 5,000 new public-sector homes is well-meaning but faces significant execution challenges. Likewise, the controversial 30% quota requiring developers to dedicate that portion of new projects to protected housing has been shelved—what Gorgues calls a tacit admission of failure.
“There’s no momentum, and without political will, nothing will change. Investors need certainty, and right now they’re getting the opposite,” he says.
Tax penalties worsen the picture
Gorgues is also critical of the penalty added to property transfer taxes (ITP) for large landlords in Catalonia.
“It’s counterproductive. It prevents serious players from expanding their rental stock, which is exactly what we need more of in cities like Barcelona,” he says. “Instead of punishing those who invest in housing, we should be rewarding those who maintain habitable properties at fair prices with long-term stable contracts.”
Property owners aren’t the enemy
Perhaps most striking is Gorgues’s effort to reframe the role of landlords in the housing debate. Far from seeing property owners as the root of the problem, he presents them as reluctant service providers operating under increasing pressure.
“There’s a tendency to paint landlords as speculators or rentier villains. But the truth is most of our members are providing a social service—at their own risk and often without support.”
He concludes with a warning: “There is no rental market without property owners. Undermine them, and you ultimately undermine the tenants too.”
