The rise and fall of the city that invented STR rules
In 2012, Barcelona wrote the first municipal regulations for Short-Term Rentals (STR) in Europe, establishing a registry that granted legal security to over 9,000 licenses. The city became a model for the continent. However, the story has taken a radical turn: in November 2024, the City Council decreed the total elimination of these licenses by 2028. Fourteen years after inventing the registry, Barcelona has decided to dismantle it entirely.
The chronology of a foretold closure
The path to total prohibition was not accidental, but a steady regulatory escalation across three different administrations (CiU, Ada Colau, and Jaume Collboni). What began in 2014 with a zoning plan banning new licenses in Ciutat Vella (reducing new licenses in the center by 35%), quickly evolved into an absolute moratorium in 2016.
The administration hardened its stance with milestones such as the record €600,000 fine imposed on Airbnb in 2017—the first sanction of a platform in Europe—and the implementation of the PEUAT in 2021, which capped the number of licenses at 9,600. Despite these measures, organized neighborhood pressure (generating over 120 monthly complaints in 2023) and an uncontrollable black market—estimated by AirDNA to account for 30% of the active supply in 2024—pushed the council toward the final decision: zero renewable licenses after November 2028.
The failure of the premise: Less tourism did not bring affordable housing
The political strategy of the last decade was based on a simple premise: restricting STRs would release residential housing and lower prices. The data from 2012 to 2024 proves that this correlation does not exist. While the city successfully eliminated 2,800 legal licenses (a 28% reduction in stock), the real estate market behaved in the opposite direction:
The real structural issue appears to be a failure in public housing policy. In that same period, Barcelona built only 1,247 social housing units, a negligible figure compared to the 47,000 units that municipal studies estimate are needed.
The 2028 Paradox: A deficit of 38,000 beds
The elimination of the legal STR sector creates an immediate logistical paradox. Turisme de Barcelona projects 12.2 million visitors for 2028. With hotel capacity stagnated at 74,000 beds, the city faces an accommodation gap of at least 38,000 beds per night.
The inevitable question is: Where will these people sleep? The answer points to a spillover into neighboring cities and, worryingly, a surge in clandestine rentals at inflated prices—precisely what the regulations intended to combat.
Market impact and roadmap for investors
For managers of large portfolios (200+ units), the current scenario (2026–2028) is one of forced liquidation. The market has already priced in the end of the business: the average secondary market price for a license has plummeted from €45,000 in 2023 to just €18,000 in 2025.
