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Housing Glossary

You will find information here on all topics relating to housing in Barcelona

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Accrued interest

The interest applied as a penalisation when the debtor does not comply with repayment obligations. The amount must be established in the contract.

Active supermortgage

This allows the client to choose their loan's benchmark index (MIBOR at three months, six months or a year) so that payment can benefit from lower interest rates sooner.

Adaptable instalment

Characteristic of UCI superloans that allow the borrower to not pay one instalment a year for the first three years if there are problems due to holidays, extraordinary expenses, etc.

Advanced cancellation fee

A commission arising from the financial risk involved in the advanced cancellation of an operation. The applied commission compensates the financial institution for its financial losses.

AEDE

Direct state aid for paying the deposit on a property.

Affordable housing

Group of social housing or dwellings from social renovation projects that are sold or rented at below-market prices.

Affordable rent

The cost of renting these dwellings is below market prices after being included in operations concerning the rented flat pool, social renovation or social housing promotions.

Amortisation

Payment made to repay a loan.

Amortisation period

The duration of the loan. The contract establishes the date of the first and last payments. The longer the period, the lower the payments are, but the higher the interest. You therefore pay more in the end. The monthly instalment should not exceed 35% of your net income.

API

Estate agent. A qualified professional who acts as an intermediary between the two interested parties to facilitate the signing of a real estate contract, which can be a rental agreement, a sales agreement or another similar contract. They usually charge a percentage of the sales price as compensation or commission.

Applicant

A citizen who makes a registration application to the Barcelona Social Housing Applicants Registry, and who represents the other members of the dwelling unit included in the application.

APR

Annual Equivalent Rate. Effective annual cost of the mortgage in terms of interest, commissions and the repayment period. To compare loans, it is not enough to just look at the lowest APR, you also have to compare the conditions, the repayment period and the distribution of instalment payments.

Arbitri municipal de plusvàlua

Former denomination of the capital gains tax on landed property.

Assessment

The value of a dwelling certified by a specialised assessment company, in accordance with the mortgage market law. This certificate not only indicates the real value of the property, it also serves as a reference for obtaining the necessary financing.

Authorisation

Document in which the owner authorises the tenant to carry out building work in the dwelling's interior.

Close glossary

Housing offices only offer face-to-face assistance by prior appointment, so check out the “Housing calls you” service here to receive the most appropriate personalised assistance. If you also need assistance in energy rights, book an appointment with an energy-advice point (PAE) by clicking here. On the other hand, if you reside in an IMHAB public dwelling you can consult our contact, management and processing channels here.​

The Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory analyses the structure and concentration of housing ownership in the city

24/07/2020 - 08:33

One-third of Barcelona’s rental housing stock belongs to large landlords

 

The Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory (O-HB) has presented the Laboratory ‘Structure and concentration of housing ownership in the city of Barcelona’. After presenting a first edition last year, the O-HB has now published the most relevant data of 2019-2020. This new report sets out the results of the analysis of the situation of ownership of the housing stock and the rental stock in the city of Barcelona. The document has been drawn up with the support and collaboration of the Barcelona City Council , the Secretariat of Urban Agenda and Territory of the Government of Catalonia and the Catalan Land Institute.

 

Barcelona’s housing stock, in figures

In regard to the overall housing stock, the study points out that its structure in the city of Barcelona is very atomised. From the data extracted from the Municipal Cadastre of January 2019, it is estimated that in the city there are 780,775 homes in the hands of 514,978 owners, with an average of 1.5 homes per owner. This means that 69% of the stock is in the hands of owners of between 1 and 2 homes. The study highlights that the housing stock is mainly in the hands of private individuals. This fact was already detected in the last edition of the report. In this case, however, 84.3% of the stock belongs to private individuals, while 15.7% belongs to the rest of homeowners. The report also reveals data in relation with the concentration of ownership. Less than one-fifth of the housing stock is in the hands of large landlords: 13.9% (108,264 homes) of the stock corresponds to owners with more than 15 homes and 17% (132,677 homes) refers to owners with more than 10.

According to the type of ownership, the presence of private individuals is reduced considerably in the stock owned by large landlords. In the case of large landlords with more than 10 homes, the presence of private individuals is 39.5%. Among the rest of owners, corporate persons predominate, representing practically 50% of the total of the stock, which comprises 132,677 homes. In the case of owners of more than 15 homes, the representation is similar: private individuals have 33.5% of this stock, and among the rest of owners corporate persons again predominate, with 50.8% of the total, which comprises 108,264 homes.

As for geographical distribution, the report shows that the public administrations with more than 10 or more than 15 homes have a greater presence in the most peripheral neighbourhoods of the city and also in the district of Ciutat Vella. In contrast, the presence of large landlords who are not public administrations is more accentuated in the central districts of the city. Large landlords with more than 10 or 15 homes have a greater presence in seven districts of the city, particularly in the axis composed of Ciutat Vella, L’Eixample, Gràcia and the neighbourhoods of the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district.

 

Greater presence of large landlords in the rental housing stock

In relation with the rental housing stock, the Laboratory ‘Structure and concentration of housing ownership in the city of Barcelona’ centres its analysis on the data of the Catalan Land Institute, which detects a rental housing stock of 212,291 homes. The Director of the O-HB, Anna Vergés, says that the conclusion drawn from this study is that “the ownership structure of the city’s rental stock is less atomised than that of the housing stock in general”. According to the type of owners, the weight of private individuals in the rental stock is less than in the overall housing stock: 63% of the stock belongs to private individuals, while 37% belongs to other types of owners.

As for large landlords, the weight they have in the rental stock is greater. The percentage of rental homes in the hands of owners of more than 15 homes is 26.4%, while that of owners with more than 10 homes is 32.4%. By types of owners, among the large landlords of rental homes, the presence of private individuals is also considerably reduced. In this case, private individuals with more than 10 homes are owners of 24.2%, while 75.8% of homes correspond to other owners. The distribution by owners of more than 15 rental homes is 19.1% for private individuals and 80.9% for the rest of owners.

The Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory was created four years ago with the aim of making an X-ray image of the housing situation to provide support for the design of public policies in the Barcelona metropolitan area. This organism emerged as a joint initiative between the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Government of Catalonia, with the support of the Association of Social Housing Managers. Since 2018 it has been an entity integrated into the structure of the Barcelona Institute of Metropolitan Regional Studies. The next objectives, according to the Director of the O-HB, Anna Vergés, will be to enlarge the information on the rental housing stock, analyse the rental homes in the hands of large landlords and enlarge the information on other metropolitan municipalities.