Barcelona landlord shows 850-euro flat to 30 people at once

Barcelona: 850-euro flat shown to 30 people at once

How many people does it take to rent a two-bedroom flat in Les Corts? The answer, according to a video circulating these days, is 30. An estate agent has organised a mass viewing for a fourth-floor flat without a lift at 850 euros a month. The image is devastating: a queue of applicants, many of them migrants, waiting their turn to see a space that will hardly give them a decent home. The rental market in Barcelona is no longer a problem of prices, it is a question of access: there is overwhelming demand, minimal supply and a dynamic of covert bidding.

An express viewing for 30 candidates

The video, recorded by an attendee and spread on social media, shows an estate agent guiding a large group through a flat of about 60 square metres. The scene, more typical of an unemployment queue than an estate agency, has sparked a debate about the extreme situation of the market. Critics point out that this practice, far from being exceptional, is becoming common in stressed areas. The agent does not even filter candidates: the 30 attendees arrive without knowing they will compete against 29 others. The estate agency, it is said, has "pedigree" in Barcelona, but its method borders on the shabby.

Some analyse that the owner seeks to maximise pressure on the price: "We start at 850 euros, the highest bidder gets it," suggest the most cynical. Although the estate agency has not confirmed an auction, the group dynamic generates a sense of scarcity that justifies any figure. The reality is that in Barcelona, with current demand, that flat will be rented within days, probably to a civil servant or an expat with a high salary, leaving out the rest.

Unstoppable demand and frozen supply

The fact that explains it all: Spain has added more than 500,000 inhabitants a year in recent years, while the construction of affordable housing remains stagnant. Social housing is anecdotal, and private development focuses on premium products. As a result, pressure concentrates on the second-hand rental market. In Barcelona, a neighbourhood like Les Corts, with good metro connections and near Camp Nou, has become a battleground. Candidates include everyone from young Spaniards with tight salaries to migrants who, in the opinion of some, "are used to overcrowding" and can pay 150-200 euros per bed in a sublet.

The comparison with Hong Kong is recurrent: there, 80% of the population lives in regulated public rental housing. Here, the public housing stock is symbolic. Land in Barcelona is not worth 30,000 euros per square metre, but the dynamic is similar: demand grows without limit and supply does not react. Some argue that "there is no bubble" because the population keeps increasing; it is a structural problem, not a cyclical one. Meanwhile, traditional landlords (not the funds, which are only 10% of the market) prefer to rent to solvent tenants: civil servants, children of civil servants, or expats with bulletproof contracts.

The mirror of the housing crisis: who is left out?

The video of the 30 viewings is a symptom, not the disease. Behind it lies a decade of failed housing policies: from the lack of construction of social housing to rental regulation that has withdrawn supply from the market. Some analysts point out that the solution involves increasing supply massively or reducing demand, but immigration remains a taboo subject. Meanwhile, young Spaniards with average salaries see how a flat at 850 euros consumes more than 50% of their net income. The alternative, as some joke, is to "get out of this country" or buy a caravan and go to a campsite.

The final irony: the flat in Les Corts has two bedrooms, but as soon as it is rented, it will surely be sublet by rooms. And then, the 30 applicants from the viewing will have become 4 or 6 tenants each paying 200-300 euros. The owner charges the same, but overcrowding multiplies. Welcome to Barcelona in 2025.