Barcelona rental activity

What actually comes up for rent

The registry describes each home as well as counting it. Pooled over the last 12 months, that is 11,239 Barcelona homes — the only public description of the rental stock as it comes onto the market, rather than as it is advertised.

That 61 m² is worth holding onto when reading any price per m² on this site — including ours. A rent quoted per square metre sounds abstract until you multiply it by the size Barcelona actually rents.

The energy figure is the certificate's modelled estimate, not a bill anyone has paid: it assumes standard use and says nothing about your tariff or how you live. It is worth knowing because it is the one running cost a listing never mentions, and at these ratings it is not small.

What this measures, and what it doesn't

• It counts activity, never price. It says how many homes were being prepared to rent out, not what any of them cost.
• It's a nowcast, not a forecast. Measured against INCASÒL's own contract counts, it tracks the same quarter closely and the next one only weakly — so it tells you about now, not next.
• The current month is left out entirely. A month that hasn't finished always reads low, and setting a partial month beside complete ones invents a fall that never happened.

For what people actually pay, barri by barri, the rent figures are the page you want.

Questions

Why do energy certificates say anything about renting?

Because you cannot legally rent out a home in Catalonia without one, and the registry records the reason each certificate was issued. Counting only those issued for a rental gives a count of homes being prepared to go on the market.

Is one certificate the same as one rental?

No. A certificate is valid for up to ten years, so a home rented twice inside that window needs only one, and some are taken out for a rental that never happens. It is an indicator of activity, which is why it is shown as a trend rather than as a number of contracts.

How closely does it match the official numbers?

Compared quarter by quarter against INCASÒL's registered-contract counts, using year-on-year changes so seasonality cannot flatter it, the two move together within the same quarter but not a quarter ahead. That is what makes it a nowcast rather than a prediction.

Why does the line drop every August?

Because Barcelona does. August runs between a third and a half of July in every year on record. It is the reason every comparison here is against the same month a year earlier rather than against the month before.