Shared Housing and Foreign-Born Population: The Existence of a Dual Residential Market of (Sub)let Rooms in Barcelona

Abstract

Shared housing as a residential option is currently widespread, especially in large cities, where the excessive cost of dwelling generates a large part of the residentially excluded population. By 2022, the foreign-born population living in the Barcelona region amounted to 28.5% of its residents, becoming key players in its current demographic, residential and urban dynamics. During the first stages of their residential incorporation process, shared housing, coming from informal residential markets, is a common form of housing tenure. The main aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between foreign-born population and the supply of rooms for rental in Barcelona. Due to the absence of official statistics regarding shared housing, a quantitative and spatial analysis is conducted at the census tract level. Data obtained from the Idealista.com website, combined with sociodemographic variables from official sources is used for this purpose. This information is processed using Local Moran’s I index and K-Means clustering method. The results show that the number of listings is positively correlated with the presence of immigrants and, in the areas where both variables converge, two different dynamics appear. In the central area of Barcelona, which concentrates the city’s main tourist and leisure activities, rooms are higher priced and most immigrants from the Global North are located there while, in the outskirts, room prices are below average and almost all the foreign-born population is from the Global South.