Real rental prices, percentiles and housing mix in el Poble-sec.
Median rent
€1,350/month
Mean: €1,474/month
Price per m²
21.8€
Barcelona: 20.8€/m²
Trend
Not published
€/m² vs previous period
Listings analyzed
61
Idealista listings
Prices, percentages and counts are calculated from Idealista listings of the last few months.
Long-term rentals are scarce in Barcelona: Idealista reports that the city's rental supply is down 90% since 2020 (Idealista News, 24 March 2026). The average rent of new contracts in Barcelona city was 1,137.35 euros a month in Q1 2026 (Incasòl data, Catalan News, 13 July 2026); this is a city-level average of signed contracts, not a figure for el Poble-sec.
El Poble-sec lives between the Paral·lel and the hill of Montjuïc, and its position explains nearly everything about it. This is the neighbourhood of Carrer Blai and its pintxos, of the old Paral·lel theatres, and of a social mix that is getting rare in Barcelona: families who have always been here, recent immigration, and newcomers from across Europe, all sharing the same stairwells.
It is central without being touristy, lively without being unbearable, and it remains one of the best value-for-money neighbourhoods within a ten-minute walk of Plaça Catalunya. The tenants are young: students, people starting out, couples. The housing confirms it, with almost half the supply in two-bedroom flats and barely 3% at four bedrooms or more.
Its strength is that genuine neighbourhood life with the centre next door. Its weaknesses are physical: the streets climb the side of Montjuïc, so the hills are real, the buildings are old and narrow, and a lift is not guaranteed.
Transport: metro L2 and L3 (Paral·lel), L3 (Poble Sec) and the funiculars up Montjuïc.
48% of rental flats in el Poble-sec have two bedrooms, followed by 25% with three bedrooms. Studios make up 3% of the supply, and flats with four or more bedrooms, 2%.
Lift. 54% of rental homes here have a lift. Old, narrow buildings clinging to the side of Montjuïc: six in ten flats have a lift, and many that do not are on the upper floors.
Private landlord or agency. 33% of listings are posted by a private landlord, against 67% that come through an agency. That is one of the highest private-landlord shares in Barcelona, so this is where you have the best chance of dealing with an owner directly.
The median rent in el Poble-sec is €1,350 a month. Most flats let for between €1,100 and €1,700 a month: a quarter of the supply falls below €1,100, and another quarter goes above €1,700.
Per square metre that works out at 21.8€/m². Applied to real floor areas, a 50 m² flat lands around €1,090 a month, a 70 m² flat around €1,530, and a 90 m² flat around €1,960.
Against the city as a whole, el Poble-sec sits 3% below the Barcelona median (€1,398/month), where the median price per square metre is 20.8€/m².
In el Poble-sec, only 10% of listings go below 14.4€/m². If you find a 70 m² flat at €1,010 a month or less, it is below the 10th percentile for the neighbourhood.
That does not make it a scam, but it is worth checking before you go any further. A price well below the local market is the single most common red flag in rental fraud.
For reference, the 25th percentile in el Poble-sec sits at 17.1€/m². Below that, the price is good for the neighbourhood without being anomalous.
We do not publish a price trend for el Poble-sec. We check that the sample supports one before publishing it, and at the current size it does not: splitting the same data in half at random already produces swings of more than 15%, with no change in the market. The median and percentiles on this page are sound.
Based on 61 Idealista listings in el Poble-sec analyzed over the last few months. We compare two consecutive 28-day periods, and we measure the change in price per square metre rather than in median rent: median rent rises and falls with the size of the flats posted in a given week, which describes our sample rather than the market. Our history is still short, so these figures describe where the market is right now, not an annual trend.
Looking for a flat in el Poble-sec? Our Idealista apartment alerts send each new listing that matches your search to Telegram, at least 2 minutes ahead of Idealista push notifications.
The median rent in el Poble-sec is €1,350 a month, which works out at roughly 22€/m². Most flats let for between €1,100 and €1,700 a month. These figures come from 61 Idealista listings over the last few months.
We do not publish a price trend for el Poble-sec. We check that the sample supports one before publishing it, and at the current size it does not: splitting the same data in half at random already produces swings of more than 15%, with no change in the market. The median and percentiles on this page are sound.
54% of rental homes in el Poble-sec have a lift. Old, narrow buildings clinging to the side of Montjuïc: six in ten flats have a lift, and many that do not are on the upper floors.
In practice, yes. Most landlords and agencies in Barcelona will ask for your NIE (Número de Identificación de Extranjero) before signing a rental contract, and you will also need it to set up utilities and open a bank account. It is not a legal requirement for the contract itself, but applicants without one tend to lose the flat to someone whose paperwork is ready. Here is how to get your NIE in Barcelona.
Seven questions, in the order most renters ask them.