The city’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, Barcelona will scrap the licenses of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals.
The boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona, Spain’s most visited city by foreign tourists, means some residents cannot afford an apartment after rents rose 68% in the past 10 years and the cost of buying a house rose by 38%, Collboni said.
Local governments have announced restrictions on short-term rentals in places such as Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin in the past decade.
Vacation rentals platform Airbnb, which hosts a significant number of Barcelona listings, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Collboni is making a mistake that will lead to (higher) poverty and unemployment,” Barcelona’s tourist apartments association APARTUR said in a statement, adding the ban would trigger a rise in illegal tourist apartments.
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