Housing worry in Barcelona is up 240% in four years: what the city's survey says
In the Ajuntament's 2026 Municipal Services Survey, 23% of Barcelona residents named access to housing as the city's most serious problem. That's the highest since the survey's records start in 1989, just behind insecurity at 23,8%. Asked about their own lives, more people name housing than anything else (16,9%). The "240% in four years" counts from 2022, a low year: compared with 2018, the share has almost doubled.
This week betevé reported that concern about access to housing in Barcelona is up 240% in four years. The number is right, and it comes from the Ajuntament's own survey. Before you repeat it, it helps to know what that survey counts.
What the survey found
Every year the Ajuntament interviews about 6.000 residents face to face for its Enquesta de Serveis Municipals (Municipal Services Survey). The 2026 results came out on 7 October.
- Barcelona's most serious problem: 23% say access to housing, more than in any year since 1989. Insecurity is still just ahead, at 23,8%.
- The problem that affects you most personally: housing comes first, at 16,9% (16,1% a year earlier), ahead of insecurity at 12,5%.
- What the council should work on first: security for 15,1%, access to housing for 14,8%.
Where the 240% comes from
The question is open, "What is the most serious problem in Barcelona?", and each person gives one answer. This is how often the answer was housing:
| Year | Name housing as Barcelona's most serious problem |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 2% |
| 2018 | 12,8% |
| 2020 | 7,6% |
| 2022 | 6,7% |
| 2024 | 12,3% |
| 2025 | 20,8% |
| 2026 | 23% |
Ajuntament de Barcelona, Enquesta de Serveis Municipals: 2016 to 2025 from the survey's open data, 2026 as published on 7 October.
From 6,7% in 2022 to 23% in 2026 is three and a half times as many people, which is where "up 240%" comes from. But 2022 was a low year. Housing was already at 12,8% in 2018, fell back to about 7% from 2020 to 2022, and has climbed since. Counted from 2018, the share has almost doubled. Counted from 2016, betevé's other comparison, it's more than ten times higher.
What it counts, and what it doesn't
- How many people put housing first. It doesn't measure rents or prices. For those, see what rent takes out of pay in Barcelona and Madrid: about 58% of take-home pay for a one-bedroom flat outside the centre, on Numbeo's self-reported figures.
- One answer each. Someone worried about housing and safety in equal measure counts for one or the other, so more people worry about housing than the 23% who put it first.
- This spring, not this autumn. The interviews ran from February to April 2026. That was before Congress voted the housing decrees down on 2 October, before the government approved them again on 6 October (what the decrees change), and before the housing protests of early October.
- The city, not your street. Asked about their own neighbourhood, people put insecurity first (20,4%) and cleaning second (9,6%), with housing third (7,9%). Gràcia is the one district where housing tops that list, at 11,5%.
If you're looking for a flat
When flats are this hard to find, it's tempting to say yes to the first one that fits the budget. The checks that protect you don't take long: the year the building went up, its ITE, the cèdula, the real m² and whether there are tourist flats in the building. They're all in our checklist for checking a flat.
Questions
- What do Barcelona residents see as the city's biggest problem?
- In the Ajuntament's 2026 survey, insecurity just leads, named by 23,8%, with access to housing at 23%, its highest since 1989. As a problem that affects them personally, housing comes first, at 16,9%.
- Has concern about housing really gone up 240%?
- Counted from 2022, yes: the share naming it as the city's most serious problem went from 6,7% to 23%. But 2022 was a low year. In 2018 it was already 12,8%.
- Who runs the survey, and how?
- The Ajuntament de Barcelona. The Enquesta de Serveis Municipals interviews about 6.000 residents face to face every year. The 2026 interviews ran from February to April.
