Barcelona City Council plans to lottery 598 affordable homes in 2026, with more than 80% set aside for rent. The scheme is spread across 12 developments in the city, with separate draws for each one.
The council has already completed five lotteries and allocated 246 flats, which is 41.13% of the total. More draws are due in May, June, September, two in November, and two in December.
Most of the homes, 10 of the 12 developments, will be for affordable rental. One development in Ciutat Vella and half of another in Sants-Montjuïc will be offered under a surface right scheme, which allows use of the property for 75 years. For more on the city’s housing policy, see our Community coverage.
Barcelona-based researcher Jaime Palomera, from the Institut de Recerca Urbana de Barcelona, told Ara.cat that the figure is still small for a city with almost 800,000 homes. He also said public housing has expanded more in the past decade than in the previous fifty years, although he said that is still not enough to change earlier patterns.
The new homes are spread across several districts. Ciutat Vella will have four developments, while Sants-Montjuïc and Eixample will each have two. Sant Martí has already held two lotteries, and Gràcia and Nou Barris will each have one. The council says central areas such as Ciutat Vella and Eixample need a different approach, focused on rehabilitation, recovering empty flats, and making better use of limited land.
Among the projects still to be allocated are 36 homes in the Edifici Grèvol on Avinguda Vallcarca in May, 36 homes on Ronda de Sant Pau in June, 40 homes in the Quertzal building on Avinguda Carrilet in November, and two allocation calls for the Pontils building in La Marina del Prat Vermell in September. The council will also lottery rehabilitated homes on Carrer Aragó in November, and homes on Carrer Lancaster and Carrer Reina Amàlia in Ciutat Vella in December. Read more on local housing and planning in our Barcelona tag page.
The council aims to hand over keys for 939 affordable homes by the end of the year. Of these, 63.8% are rental properties, 14.59% are cooperative homes, 19.8% are surface right properties, and 1.8%, or 17 units, are reserved for young people. By mid-May, the council had already handed over 128 rental properties from four developments and part of a fifth. Applicants must be registered in the Registre de Sol·licitants d'HPO.
