Casamona in the New York Times

Recently Tine Mathiassen, founder and director of Casamona Real Estate, was interviewed by the New York Times to talk about the current state of the real estate market in Barcelona. In the article Ms. Mathiassen and other professionals from the real estate field, talk about how the real estate market of Barcelona is affected by the new rent-control laws and the pandemic.

Barcelona has always been very interesting to international buyers. The beautiful coastal capital is not only popular to tourists, but also for people looking to buy a second home or vacation home. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on the real estate market, resulting in a drop in prices in most areas.

Barcelona in comparison to other major cities

The real estate market in Barcelona is very different from other countries around the world. When comparing Barcelona to Amsterdam for example, the monthly rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the city center differs approximately 70 percent. Housing prices are continuously rising across Europe, and even the pandemic was not possible to stop the prices from going up. What is the most noticeable, is that Barcelona has not seen the housing prices and rents grow, such as in the other major cities in Europe.
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Rent-control laws

Due to the enacted rent-control law in 2020, housing prices and rent in Barcelona have not seen the same growth as other cities in Europe. The rent-control law was enacted due to the housing shortage, and to discourage investors from buying and landlords to list their homes for sale. Also, the pandemic affected the real estate market. As the pandemic negatively affected tourism, the number of buyers went down and made it harder still for rental properties to turn a profit.

These colliding factors made Barcelona a tougher sell for investors than in years past. According to Ms. Mathiassen, sellers find it difficult to accept that the prices went down. On the other hand, potential buyers do not want to pay too much for apartments, because they worry about rent caps.
Nonetheless, change is on the way, and Spain is ready to recover from the crisis. The low-interest rates in combination with decreasing property prices, create opportunities for people looking to invest.
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New York Times

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