How is the post-pandemic recovery of the commerce sector going in Barcelona?
 
75% of the premises in Barcelona are occupied in the post-pandemic scenario. Before the pandemic, the occupancy of premises was 79%. During the pandemic, in certain central commercial and tourist areas, employment had been close to 60%.
 
- Sant Martí is the district where the rental price of commercial premises has risen the most, specifically in the front-line areas, Diagonal Mar and Vila Olímpica.
- The Barri Gòtic has the highest rental offer price for commercial premises, despite having fallen by 6% over the last year.


The variation in the rental price of premises and the percentage of commercial turnover are useful indicators for measuring the commercial vitality of Barcelona's neighbourhoods. A report published by Eixos.cat in 2019 clearly related commercial turnover, the annual percentage of commercial openings and closings, with health and commercial dynamism, measured from the occupancy of premises and commercial attraction. The greater the dynamism, the greater commercial rotations.
 
With the arrival of the pandemic and social restrictions, business turnover reached lows and almost stopped during the months of confinement. If this scenario had lasted more than two months, there would not have been any neighborhood in Barcelona without commercial desertification (commercial occupancy <80%). Fortunately, it was not. After the confinement, the commercial activity and, therefore, the turnover, started with force.
 
Throughout the pandemic, except for the two months of confinement, there have been a high number of openings that have largely offset business closures. The fact that owners and real estate agents have reached an agreement to offer special conditions for the rental of premises, such as deferral of rent payments for several months, and other facilities, has contributed a lot. Partly thanks to these measures, businesses that were in a peripheral location have been able to access premises in a prime commercial area. This has undoubtedly contributed to repopulating urban shopping centers. However, there are still central areas that have not recovered their pre-pandemic splendor, such as Calle Ferran.
 
Below we provide data on the post-pandemic evolution of the rental price of premises. The data from API.cat, aggregated by neighbourhood, show the highest rental prices in most of the most commercially dynamic neighbourhoods: The Gothic Quarter, El Raval, La Derecha del Eixample, Sant Gervasi - Galvany are areas with occupation and high commercial attraction in the pre-pandemic scenario. However, the biggest price increases are in more peripheral and not so commercial neighborhoods, such as Poblenou, Vallcarca and Penitents or Diagonal Mar.
 
A possible explanation for the price increase in more residential areas could be the change in lifestyle habits and, therefore, also in consumption behavior, produced during the pandemic. The restrictions on mobility and teleworking have revived peripheral areas as much as they have harmed the most touristic and central areas. It remains to be seen if the trend consolidates in the coming months.
 
Below we show a series of maps and tables of values of real estate indicators and commercial turnover by neighborhood in the city of Barcelona. The tables show the first 10 values of the neighborhood ranking for each of the indicators.

Source: COAPI