A report published by Barcelona-based proptech company SpotAHome, which specializes in medium-term property rentals, maintains that property owners in Spain are increasingly opting to rent individual rooms in their properties, rather than renting them out as a whole, Efe.com reports.
The report found that the average monthly cost of renting a room (usually including utilities) was €603 ($642 U.S.) in Barcelona and €558 in Madrid. The third most expensive city in the country was found to be Palma de Mallorca (€516/month).
According to Gonzalo Bernardos, an economics professor at Barcelona University (LinkedIn profile), “Owners see that the limitations for renting a home can be bypassed and they can, for example, go from charging €1,800 per month for a 110 square meter apartment in Eixample [a district iof Barcelona] to €2,800 if they rent the four rooms separately.”
“Even on the outskirts the offer is small. In Móstoles or Leganés [both suburbs of Madrid], they are asking for €800 and €850 euros per month . The only market that people can go to in these circumstances is that of rental rooms,” he added.
SpotAHome’s Álvaro Marín noted that “Barcelona and Madrid receive a lot of international demand from young students or professionals who are attracted by companies established here. The rise in rental prices for entire homes together with the drop in supply is putting pressure on room rentals.”
He added that renting rooms “offers more income stability than [renting] an entire apartment, since it is increasingly difficult to find a family that can pay such high prices.”
Nationally, the average apartment rent rose by 8.4% in 2022, according to property portal Idealista. However, in Barcelona they soared 25.7%. Many blame regulation for this, arguing that both national and regional government restrictions are pushing landlords out of the market, thus squeezing supply.
Founded in 2014 by Alejandro Artacho, Bruno Bianchi, Bryan McEire and Hugo Monteiro, SpotAHome aims to connect renters with vetted housing in order to make it possible to book mid- to-long-term accommodation from anywhere in the world.