Soaring rents and noisy parties: how Airbnb is forcing out Barcelona locals

Holiday listings have shot up in Sant Pere, altering the character and economy of the neighbourhood

• The UK village changed by Airbnb
• Areas of UK have one Airbnb for every four homes

Until recently, the Sant Pere neighbourhood of Barcelona had resisted the tide of mass tourism. Ten years ago, many visitors who ventured there found it forbidding, even a little sinister, and soon retreated to the more familiar and gentrified Gothic Quarter.

Then the city gave Sant Pere Mi(C)s Baix, the main shopping street, a makeover and, although it was supposed to be for the benefit of residents, as one local put it, "it was like rolling out the red carpet for tourists".