Sant Joan Despí · report

Buy or rent in Sant Joan Despí

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: €1,056
Owning per month: €1,181

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average appraised value of €3,707/m², and the mean rent of leases signed in 2024, €11.7/m² a month, in Sant Joan Despí, and a mortgage rate of 3.0%.

Assumptions

Home size, m²

Deposit

Mortgage rate, %

Running costs, % of price a year

Property tax (IBI), insurance, maintenance and the community of owners.

Return on savings, % a year

What the deposit and purchase costs could earn if invested instead.

Purchase costs, % of price

Transfer tax or VAT, stamp duty, notary and land registry, paid once.

Renting costs less each month than owning.

Rent a month: €1,056
Owning a month, not recovered: €1,171
Interest: €751
Running costs: €278
Return given up: €142
Cash out a month, if buying: €1,544

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 Sant Joan Despí

Affordability

At the average appraised value, a 90 m² home costs €333,639. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is €1,272 a month. Spain sets no cap on the payment; lenders must assess each borrower's solvency.

Payment, two incomes: 30%
Payment, one income: 60%

New homes

Figures for Barcelona province: Sant Joan Despí has no reliable figures of its own.

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

Foreign buyers

Figures for Barcelona province: Sant Joan Despí has no reliable figures of its own.

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%

Past cycles

Appraised values have fallen by 3% or more 4 times since 2005. The deepest began in Q3 2008.

Deepest fall: −48.8%
Recovery from the low: 147 months

Empty homes

4.0% of the 13,577 homes counted in the 2021 census stood empty, whether for sale, to let or for other reasons.

Empty, 2021 census: 4.0%
Empty homes: 548