Does limiting rent destroy its supply? The figures from Catalonia question Prohens' mantra
While in the Balearic Islands the rent has skyrocketed 45.9% since 2023, Catalonia contains prices in stressed areas
PalmaCatalonia is the great anti-example of housing management for Marga Prohens' Government. In this Tuesday's plenary session, the president once again attacked the Generalitat, because she believes that the rent price limitation it applies does not work and, furthermore, restricts the supply available on the market. "You have two masters: Pedro Sánchez, Catalonia and your inferiority complex," she snapped at the Minorcanist Josep Castells when he demanded that she apply the declaration of stressed zones in the Islands. Furthermore, she highlighted that this territory is the community where the most evictions in the State take place, a fact that she attributed to the management of the socialist Salvador Illa. But when looking at the available official figures, these correlations are not so clear. The Islands, where the price limitation is not applied, are the second community with the most evictions according to the number of inhabitants. And although in 2025 fewer rental contracts were signed than in 2023 in Catalonia, in the Balearic Islands, where there is no restriction on prices, they have also decreased. Where there is a difference is in rental prices: while in Catalonia they have been contained, in the Islands they have skyrocketed.
Catalonia, where there are the most evictions
On one hand, the claim that Catalonia concentrates the highest percentage of evictions per inhabitant in the State is true, but the Islands are in second place. According to data published last June by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), of the total of 25,540 evictions that were carried out throughout the State in 2025, the majority, 6,814, took place in Catalonia: 83.9 evictions occurred there for every 100,000 inhabitants. In absolute numbers, the Islands are in ninth place on the list, with 851 evictions. But if the list is ordered according to the number of inhabitants, the Islands remain in second position, behind Catalonia, with 68.1 evictions for every 100,000 inhabitants. Therefore, the Balearic Islands also lead the ranking of evictions for the year 2025, only behind Catalonia.
Fewer contracts in Catalonia, but in the Islands, too
According to the deposit data from the Catalan Land Institute (Incasol), a decrease in the number of formalised contracts is also recorded in Catalonia. Between 2023 (when the state housing law was approved) and 2025, the number of formalised rental contracts was reduced. Thus, it went from 132,988 contracts in 2023 to 108,057 in 2025: 18.75% less (24,931). Furthermore, this decrease was more pronounced in municipalities declared as stressed residential market zones, where it went from 115,615 contracts in 2023 to 91,743 contracts in 2025: a decrease of 23,872 contracts, 20.65% of the total. In contrast, this decline was not as sharp in those not declared as stressed zones: it went from 7,253 contracts in 2023 to 7,231 contracts in 2025: a decrease of 0.3% (22 contracts). Therefore, while in non-declared municipalities the volume of contracts remained stable, in the stressed ones the number of contracts did fall. Nevertheless, it is observed that the trend began to reverse in the conjunctural data for the first quarter of 2026.
According to the reference index of the effect of rent containment that the Generalitat published in July 2026, in the first quarter of the year there was a rebound in new contract signings. 26,262 new ones were signed in municipalities declared as stressed, an increase of 4.5% compared to the previous quarter. More contracts were also signed in municipalities without containment: 1,817, 1.3% more than in the previous three months. The Generalitat also claimed to have detected net growth in the primary housing stock, with a positive balance of 3,404 valid primary housing contracts. Thus, it highlighted that the total primary housing stock has grown by 20,994 contracts since the declaration of the stressed residential market zones.
What has happened in these years in the Islands? According to data from the Ibavi that the Ministry of Housing has provided in a written response to the PSIB, the number of rental contracts has also fallen in the Islands, where the Law has not been applied and the declaration of stressed zones has not been made. In 2023, 5189 were registered, and in 2025, 4510, a decrease of 13.1%. Thus, in Mallorca, it went from 3806 contracts to 3433 (9.8%); in Menorca, from 806 to 690 (14.39%), and in Ibiza, from 556 to 372 (33.9%). The PSIB presented this data last Tuesday during the Parliament plenary session, in which it demanded that the limitation of stressed zones be applied. The Government refused and insisted on "incentivizing" owners instead of "prohibiting or criminalizing," in the words of Minister José Luis Mateo. Although the Government invested 15,519.46 euros in a study on the advisability or not of applying the state law in the Islands, the final document contained more than a hundred mistakes, among which were numerous calculation errors, as made public by ARA Balears. After the experts in question corrected it, the document still contained mistakes. Even so, the Executive defended that the conclusions, which argued that it was not convenient to apply the stressed zones in the Islands, were not affected by the results.
Prices are contained in Catalonia and skyrocket in the Islands
And what about rental prices? In the Balearic Islands, the average rental price has gone from 958 euros in 2023 to 1,390 in 2025. Therefore, it has increased by 45.9%, a percentage that rises to 66.7% if the 2022 average is taken into account, when a rental cost 834 euros. By island, it has increased by 48.78% in Mallorca (going from an average of 943 euros in 2023 to 1,403 in 2025); 50.72% in Menorca (from 690 to 1,040 euros per month) and 37.84% in Ibiza (from 1,435 to 1,978).
According to the official statistical table of deposits held at Incasol, prices in areas declared as stressed have moved between containment and moderate decrease in the main cities of Catalonia. In Barcelona city, the average rent was 1,136.4 euros per month in 2023, rose to 1,147.22 euros in 2024, and in 2025 it fell slightly, by 1.1%, remaining at an average of 1,134.61 euros per month. In Girona, on the other hand, between 2023 and 2025 prices have risen by 6.73%, a period in which they have gone from 764.55 euros to 816.03 euros on average per month. In Tarragona, this increase was 4.14% in the same period (from 655.57 to 682.68 euros per month), and in Lleida by 6.1%, from 545.56 euros per month to 578.84 euros per month.
Data from the first quarter of 2026 indicate that rent regulation in Catalonia has allowed for the stabilization and reduction of prices in areas with the highest residential pressure. The average rent for standard housing in Catalonia stands at 861.23 euros per month, 2.6% less than the previous quarter. In residential areas with a stressed market, the rent drops to 876.56 euros per month, a 2.8% decrease in prices. In the two years of the regulation's application, when compared to the first quarter of 2024, prices have fallen by 1.3%.