The New Rental Frontier: Mid-Term Rentals and the Financialization of Housing in Barcelona
(2025) SGEM08 20251Department of Human Geography
- Abstract
- This thesis investigates the emergence of mid-term rentals (MTRs) in Barcelona, situating them within broader political economy debates on housing financialization, assetization, and rent extraction. MTRs operate in a legal grey zone between long-term tenancy protections and short-term tourist rental laws, and have expanded rapidly in the context of digital nomadism and post-COVID mobility. While short-term rentals have received significant scholarly attention, MTRs remain critically underexplored. Barcelona is selected as a single-case study due to its acute housing pressures, intense touristification, and evolving regulatory context. Through qualitative analysis of policy documents, platform data, and grey literature, the study traces the... (More)
- This thesis investigates the emergence of mid-term rentals (MTRs) in Barcelona, situating them within broader political economy debates on housing financialization, assetization, and rent extraction. MTRs operate in a legal grey zone between long-term tenancy protections and short-term tourist rental laws, and have expanded rapidly in the context of digital nomadism and post-COVID mobility. While short-term rentals have received significant scholarly attention, MTRs remain critically underexplored. Barcelona is selected as a single-case study due to its acute housing pressures, intense touristification, and evolving regulatory context. Through qualitative analysis of policy documents, platform data, and grey literature, the study traces the evolution and expansion of MTRs, showing how regulatory tightening around STRs and long-term rent caps has facilitated the emergence and rapid growth of MTRs as a strategic alternative. Findings show that large-scale asset managers increasingly use MTRs to maximize returns, treating housing as a liquid asset rather than a social good. The individual contribution of this thesis lies in bridging the gap between the political economy of housing – particularly debates on financialization, assetization and rent extraction – and the emergent dynamics of mid-term rentals. Theoretically, it reframes MTRs as instruments of rent extraction and asset accumulation. Empirically, it offers new insights into Barcelona’s rental market, revealing how regulatory gaps and platform dynamics have shaped this evolving housing form. In sum, it offers a timely intervention into critical housing studies by foregrounding mid-term rentals as a key mechanism in the evolving landscape of capital accumulation (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9193445
- author
- Saccuman, Lorenzo LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SGEM08 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- political economy of housing, mid-term rentals, Barcelona, assetization, platform-mediated housing
- language
- English
- id
- 9193445
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-09 10:30:40
- date last changed
- 2025-06-09 10:30:40
@misc{9193445,
abstract = {{This thesis investigates the emergence of mid-term rentals (MTRs) in Barcelona, situating them within broader political economy debates on housing financialization, assetization, and rent extraction. MTRs operate in a legal grey zone between long-term tenancy protections and short-term tourist rental laws, and have expanded rapidly in the context of digital nomadism and post-COVID mobility. While short-term rentals have received significant scholarly attention, MTRs remain critically underexplored. Barcelona is selected as a single-case study due to its acute housing pressures, intense touristification, and evolving regulatory context. Through qualitative analysis of policy documents, platform data, and grey literature, the study traces the evolution and expansion of MTRs, showing how regulatory tightening around STRs and long-term rent caps has facilitated the emergence and rapid growth of MTRs as a strategic alternative. Findings show that large-scale asset managers increasingly use MTRs to maximize returns, treating housing as a liquid asset rather than a social good. The individual contribution of this thesis lies in bridging the gap between the political economy of housing – particularly debates on financialization, assetization and rent extraction – and the emergent dynamics of mid-term rentals. Theoretically, it reframes MTRs as instruments of rent extraction and asset accumulation. Empirically, it offers new insights into Barcelona’s rental market, revealing how regulatory gaps and platform dynamics have shaped this evolving housing form. In sum, it offers a timely intervention into critical housing studies by foregrounding mid-term rentals as a key mechanism in the evolving landscape of capital accumulation}},
author = {{Saccuman, Lorenzo}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The New Rental Frontier: Mid-Term Rentals and the Financialization of Housing in Barcelona}},
year = {{2025}},
}