Seasonal rental contracts in Catalonia fell by 40.2% in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier. The decline represents 963 fewer contracts across the region and follows a 32% drop recorded in the first quarter, after legislation regulating seasonal and room rentals came into force in December 2025.
housing minister Sílvia Paneque warned that some properties may have moved from seasonal lets to room rentals. Although room rentals are also covered by the regulations, the Catalan government considers this shift a possible source of breaches.
Room rentals are among the priorities of the Directorate General for Discipline, the body created in August to investigate potential violations. Its inspection service currently has 50 members across Catalonia, with plans to reach 100. So far, inspectors have opened 45 sanctioning proceedings involving proposed fines totalling €1.3 million, following 600 inspections that focused primarily on large property owners.
Paneque said penalties would not be imposed immediately because the procedure includes extensive legal safeguards and can take a long time.
The Incasol data also offer an assessment of the rent cap introduced in March 2024. In areas classified as pressured, where the limit applies, rents rose by 2.6% year on year during the second quarter. That was below the 3.2% inflation rate. In Barcelona, the increase was 0.5%, while rents in non-pressured areas rose by 11%.
The government said the cap links increases to inflation and the rent in the previous contract. It therefore considers some effect from earlier market movements unavoidable. Contracts signed in the second quarter of 2026 were compared with those from 2021, when rents had risen by 10% year on year.
The average rent reached €877 across Catalonia and €1,140 in Barcelona. Government estimates indicate that the cap kept prices between 8.9% and 10.6% below the levels they would have reached without the law. By province, the estimated difference per square metre was €11 in Barcelona, €13 in Girona, €9 in Tarragona and €22 in Lleida.
Paneque said the law had not reduced the supply of homes. According to the government, around 2,000 more homes have entered the rental market during the two years since the measure took effect, alongside 23,506 additional contracts. The government attributed the lower turnover partly to tacit extensions of existing agreements.
The Catalan government also said regulation had helped contain the sales market compared with other regions, arguing that reduced expectations of buying property as a financial asset or for speculation had contributed to more stable prices and mortgage costs for households.
Paneque nevertheless said regulation alone would not resolve the housing crisis. In her view, a sustained reduction in prices will also require an increase in housing supply.
Sources: elDiario.es.