Young people looking to rent in Barcelona are facing the toughest competition for the city’s limited homes, according to Guifré Homedes, chief executive of Amat Immobiliaris, who said his agency still rents to younger applicants but that they compete “least well”.

In an interview published by Racó Català on Wednesday 16 September, Homedes said applicants’ financial circumstances remained the principal factor in selecting tenants. He advised young couples unable to secure either a mortgage or a tenancy to approach estate agencies they consider trustworthy.

“We do rent to young people, but ultimately they are the ones who compete least well.”

For young residents without family or professional contacts in the city, Homedes said finding a flat in Barcelona was “practically impossible”. These are the views of a property-sector executive, rather than official housing-market data.

Agency reports fewer rental homes on its books

Homedes said Amat’s available rental stock has been low for nearly four years and is now at about half the level of the previous two decades. He said 2026 had so far been worse than 2025 for availability, adding that demand was high across both higher-priced and lower-priced homes.

He also said non-Spanish nationals accounted for almost 60% of Amat contracts in Barcelona, compared with 15% before the Covid-19 pandemic. Homedes attributed the rise in share to a smaller pool of available homes and to demand from staff relocating for multinational employers.

Supply measures would take years, Homedes says

The Amat executive backed the Generalitat’s Pla 50.000, a plan intended to add 50,000 public-sector homes, but said it would not provide a short-term solution. He said a housing tender resolved in July could take two to three years before the resulting homes were available to the public.

Homedes said land transformation can take eight to ten years, followed by a further two to three years for permits and construction. He argued that faster administrative procedures were needed alongside new building.

  • Homedes said housing under the Pla 50.000 would be built outside Barcelona as well as in the city’s wider area, naming Terrassa, Sant Adrià de Besòs and Santa Perpètua.
  • He said reliable rail and road connections would be needed if residents are to live within a reasonable journey of their jobs.
  • He estimated, in his own assessment, a shortfall of 140,000 homes in Catalonia.

Homedes also said purchase prices had generally reached a ceiling, although he did not expect them necessarily to fall while demand remained high. He referred to figures cited by the interviewer showing home sales down 6.8% to June while the price per square metre rose 7%.

Reported by Racó Català.