With an apartment in property, José Manuel started to rent the inherited home of his parents, encouraged by his friends and acquaintances: "You make money. It's very easy. It's fashionable ...", they said. What could fail? The apartment, located in the Eixample district of Barcelona , met all the requirements to attract the hundreds of tourists who arrive every day in the city, but eight months after starting his plan, José Manuel realized that it was not as good as I thought "The dirt, the damages, the complaints of the neighbors for the noise and the inconveniences ... The price was 75 euros per night, but still it did not compensate me with all the expenses and inconveniences that the rent entailed", explains in conversation telephone with THE WORLD .

Last summer he rethink it and decided to change the rental of his apartment for residential purposes. His case is not unique. Many small owners took advantage of the fury of tourist rentals about three years ago seeking to obtain generous income in a short time; The result resulted in a market boom that now begins to deflate, as more and more individuals are returning to the traditional residential rental .

"I have good tenants, they assume the expenses and they guarantee the rent to me, that is of 1.000 euros to the month", comments José Manuel. It is not the 1,500 euros he earned in the tourist circuit, "but I have won in peace and security. I sleep peacefully" and that for him is priceless.

Agencies increasingly confirm this reaction among their clients, as they point out from Secure Rental. "Three years ago we saw a large transfer of housing from the residential to the tourist, especially in some cities in Spain, and now the opposite movement is taking place," said Antonio Carroza, CEO of the company.

According to the data handled by the firm, the tourist rental in Madrid and Barcelona experienced a growth between 25% and 30% in 2017 and 2018, compared to the "stagnation" they appreciated in 2019. "Specifically, in Madrid it has only grown 6%, while in Barcelona it has dropped to 1.2%, "they assure EL MUNDO .

Too many restrictions

Behind this change there are fundamentally two reasons: a less attractive profitability than expected and the restrictive regulatory measures introduced by administrations, which have raised an entry barrier too high to overcome. "The requirements have tightened in the last year and homeowners do not want to face the entire process of applying for licenses and permits or having problems with their neighbors," says Carroza.

The tourist rental boom in points such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​San Sebastián or Malaga coincided with the vertiginous rise in residential rental prices in those cities and many voices see a link between both. The Government approved a series of measures to try to regulate the activity of the tourist flats and the municipalities and autonomous communities introduced changes in their regulations that, in the end, have ended up discouraging many private owners.

In Madrid, for example, it was established that tourist dwellings must have differentiated access to the rest of the neighbors of the farm, and in Barcelona the licensing of this type of property has been frozen since 2015.

The regulations could now be hardened, taking into account the plans of the new Executive for this sector. One of the points of the agreement signed by Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias refers briefly but forcefully to the tourist rental: "Regulatory reforms will be promoted that allow the communities of owners to prohibit the exercise of the tourist rental activity or set certain conditions for your exercise, "he collects.

In the sector they warn that measures of this type generate "uncertainty" among the large investors, who had opted for this business model and now go to other countries with Portugal, and among smallholders, "who prefer to have security for above profitability when they rent their homes. "

They also ensure that far from slowing the rise in rents, measures of this type end up having a boomerang effect. "When the owners feel that they are left unprotected by the law, or they withdraw their homes from the market, which reduces the supply and pressures the income, or directly raise their fees to try to cover themselves for the future," warns Carroza .

Low profitability

The other reason that is causing the change is economic . In general, the expenses are higher in tourist properties because the payment of some services such as electricity, water, Wi-Fi or gas correspond to the owner, while the residential assumes them as a tenant. Likewise, in the section on taxes, the lessor of a property destined for residential rental can be taxed up to 60% of the taxes, while the tourist does not.

On the other hand, it should also be taken into account that the occupancy of housing for tourist rental is variable and that it depends a lot on the area. According to the III Comparative Study on tourist rental vs. residential Rent Insurance, in Madrid a 70% occupancy is required so that the profitability of the tourist rental reaches the residential in 2019, that is, having it rented more than 21 nights a month to compensate (In the annual calculation, there would be 36 more nights per year than during the previous year).

In the case of Barcelona, ​​the minimum percentage of occupancy in most districts is 60% (more than 18 nights per month), although there are also differences in the City of Barcelona among the most profitable districts such as Eixample, Gracia and Les Corts and the least profitable, such as Ciutat Vella, Horta Guinardó Nou Barris or Sant Andreu, among others.

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