The rise in prices has been caused by the demand for housing among foreigners, who appear to have been the main property buyers over the past year. This tendency can be applied to the following districts in particular: Sants-Montjuic (in which the growth was 22.6%), L’Eixample (22%), Horta Guinardó (20.8%), Sant Martí (19.8%), Nou Barris (14.9%), Sant Andreu (14.6%), and Gràcia (12.8%). The area of Ciutat Vella witnessed the most drastic rise in prices – in this district, the cost of real estate has soared to 35.7% higher.
At the same time, Tinsa has reported only a moderate increase in prices in some of the traditionally expensive districts of the historical center: 11% in Les Corts and 11.6% in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi.
On average, the most expensive housing currently is registered in Sant Gervasi (at 4247 euros per square meter), while the cheapest real estate objects are found in Nou Barris (at 2036 euros per square meter). On the outskirts of Barcelona, the housing prices increased by 11.9% in the past year and now constitute an average of 1963 euros per square meter.
The surge in housing costs in Barcelona and its suburbs contrasts with the overall state of the real estate market in Spain. The analysts maintain that on average for the last year in Spain, the housing prices increased by only 2.7%: that is, an average of 1245 euros per square meter.