Does Barcelona’s international image help or hinder long-term real estate investment? Do investors view the city as a stable and transparent real estate market? To debate this topic, Iberian Property hosted an Editorial Breakfast, with the support of Cushman & Wakefield, Barcelona Investment Office and Barcelona City Council, which took place on the 1st of October at the new C&W headquarters on Avenida Diagonal.
Pere Viñolas, CEO of Colonial, framed Barcelona’s evolution through the lens of resilience. “From an investment perspective, we are clearly in a better situation than three or four years ago,” he noted. “The perception of Barcelona as a reliable and resilient destination has improved significantly.”
He acknowledged, however, that reputational recovery takes time. “You still need to row twice as hard to attract one euro to Barcelona compared with Madrid. Brand confidence is built over years but can be lost way faster.” For Pere Viñolas, perception and reality are intertwined: “Negative perceptions fade when normality returns, but to create new positive realities, you must first change perception.”
Looking forward, the Colonial CEO pointed to science, health and innovation as the city’s next economic frontier. “If we want real estate to attract global capital, we must show a growth story. Science and innovation allow you to do that — they connect the asset to talent and long-term value creation.”
He cited Barcelona’s public investment in research and technology as a powerful base: “We already have anchors like the Supercomputing Centre and the Biomedical Research Park. In biotech and pharmaceuticals, Catalonia represents almost half of Spain’s industry, and in clinical trials we rank among Europe’s top cities.”
That, he argued, gives Barcelona a compelling narrative in an era when storytelling drives investment: “Science and innovation link talent, capital and place. It’s a growth engine that resonates internationally. If we build around that, Barcelona can lead within Europe.”
In Pere Viñolas view, this is where public policy and private capital can truly align. “When you can connect investment to innovation and to human capital,” he said, “you don’t just attract funding — you build a city that competes on intelligence, creativity and trust.”
