Barcelona · report
Buy or rent in Barcelona
Renting a 90 m² home costs less each month than owning it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the appraised value; rent is the mean of new leases. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.
- Rent per month
- €1,392
- Owning per month
- €1,465
Try your own numbers
Starting from the average appraised value of €4,602/m², and the mean rent of leases signed in 2024, €15.5/m² a month, in Barcelona, and a mortgage rate of 3.0%.
Owning and renting cost about the same each month.
- Rent a month
- €1,392
- Owning a month, not recovered
- €1,453
- Interest
- €932
- Running costs
- €345
- Return given up
- €176
- Cash out a month, if buying
- €1,917
The comparison counts only the costs of owning you never get back: interest, running costs and what the deposit and purchase costs could earn elsewhere. Loan repayments build equity, so they are left out. So is any rise in the home's value, because nobody knows it in advance. Rents here are the mean rent of leases signed in the year, from landlords' income tax returns (AEAT); prices are appraised values, not sale prices.
Other reports for Barcelona
At the average appraised value, a 90 m² home costs €414,162. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is €1,580 a month. Spain sets no cap on the payment; lenders must assess each borrower's solvency.
- Payment, two incomes
- 39%
- Payment, one income
- 78%
16.6% more homes were licensed for construction in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.
- Licensed, 12 months
- 12,400
- Per 1,000 residents
- 7.2
Buyers living abroad bought 1.8% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q2 2026.
- Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months
- 1.8%
Appraised values have fallen by 3% or more once since 2005. That fall began in Q2 2008.
- Deepest fall
- −39.6%
- Recovery from the low
- 129 months
9.3% of the 808,751 homes counted in the 2021 census stood empty, whether for sale, to let or for other reasons.
- Empty, 2021 census
- 9.3%
- Empty homes
- 75,488