Rising rents are not the fault of vacation rentals
Bedroom of one of the establishments managed by Alquilair.
How many times have we heard that the rise in conventional rentals is a consequence of the accelerated growth and demand for vacation rentals?
This boom in renting homes to tourists has brought as a consequence different and diverse statements that seem to demonize what we see as a diversification of the economy. Effects of the new forms of tourism, and the income it represents for thousands of families who have a second property. The Balearic Islands and Catalonia are the two most successful communities for vacation rentals, but also the most controversial.
Let's talk about what is happening in Barcelona and a recent study that disproves what has been said as a whole truth: The rent increases because of tourist housing. It turns out that the number of illegal tourist apartments in Barcelona available on platforms such as Airbnb has been reduced over the last year by 1,076, to a figure of 3,949, and this reduction is due to inspection measures promoted by the City Council, which act as a deterrent.
The study commissioned by the Associació d'Apartaments Turístics de Barcelona (APARTUR), argues that the rise in rental prices in the city is not attributable to the existence of tourist apartments. In Barcelona these apartments represent 1.64% of the total housing stock in the city, which is estimated at 825,000 apartments.
On the other hand, the economist Gonzalo Bernardos commented that it is even ridiculous to accuse tourist accommodation of the rise in rental prices, which in Barcelona represents 1.64% of the total number of homes in the city. The rise in rent is due, among many other factors, to the increase in the population with greater purchasing power.
Let's remember that Barcelona is a global city, attractive and globally desired for a vacation.
According to the study:"The increase in the price of rent in Barcelona is directly proportional to the decrease in unemployment". Behind the rise in rent there are structural changes that will be maintained over time, because the economic recovery has arrived and the minimums of the crisis have disappeared. The study estimates an increase of 20.19% between 2014 and 2016, whether it is a bubble like the one experienced before 2008.
For its part, the housing price index calculated by the Ministry of Development the price level of free housing fell between 2008 and 2013 by 26 percent in the Balearic Islands, and since then prices have grown by 15 percent. That is, free housing prices in the Balearics are still lower in 2017 than at the peak reached in 2008. And the price of housing usually responds to changes in supply and demand with some abruptness.
The determinants of demand are very varied, such as demographic components, household income and wealth, the cost and availability of credit, and household expectations about future housing prices, not because of the boom and bust of vacation rentals.
While in the Catalan capital there is a social rejection, in the Balearic Islands the perception towards vacation rentals is different. In Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera the citizens themselves value vacation rentals with a "B". Even in Ibiza, where there has been more controversy, the citizens value the vacation rental with a high pass, according to figures from the Association of Apartments and Seasonal Rental Homes of the Balearic Islands (HABTUR). 54.4% of the residents of Formentera, followed by those of Menorca with 51.5%, those of Mallorca with 47.4% and those of Ibiza with 35% "consider that vacation rentals should even be promoted.
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