Barcelona has announced it will ban apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move to curb soaring housing costs and make the city more affordable for residents. Mayor Jaume Collboni said the city would scrap the licences of all 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals by November 2028, meaning tourist flats as they exist today will disappear from 2029.
The leftist mayor attributed the decision to a 68% rise in rents and a 38% increase in house prices over the past decade, driven partly by the boom in short-term lets. He described access to housing as a key driver of inequality, particularly affecting young people, and said the measure would free up those apartments for residents to rent or buy.
Spain’s Socialist housing minister, Isabel Rodriguez, voiced support for the move on X, stating it was about guaranteeing affordable housing. However, the Barcelona tourist apartments association Apartur warned the ban would lead to higher poverty and unemployment and trigger a rise in illegal rentals. Airbnb did not immediately comment.
Local government plans to maintain a strong inspection regime to detect illegal tourist apartments once the ban comes into force. No new tourist flats have been allowed in recent years, and authorities have already shut 9,700 illegal ones since 2016, with close to 3,500 recovered for local housing.
The announcement comes amid growing anti-tourism sentiment in Spain. Several local associations have called for a demonstration on 6 July with the slogan “Enough! Let’s put a stop to tourism!”, following similar protests in the Canary Islands and Palma de Mallorca.
