Cheaper to rent in Barcelona and commute to London (2013)
An old 2013 claim that it was cheaper to rent a flat in Barcelona and fly to London for work than to live in London itself is revisited as a way to highlight extreme housing and transport cost imbalances. Commenters note that the specific arithmetic no longer works—Barcelona rents and airfares have risen sharply, Brexit and airport bottlenecks make frequent flying less viable—yet the underlying problem of housing outpacing wages in major cities has only intensified. The conversation broadens into the impacts of remote work, digital nomads, short‑term rentals, and restrictive planning on urban affordability and quality of life.
Original Premise & Intent
- Many note the article is from 2013 and meant as a thought experiment to highlight extreme rent disparities and cheap flights, not a serious lifestyle proposal.
- Several commenters are surprised others are treating a 9–14 hour daily commute as if it were genuinely viable.
Time, Practicality & Quality of Life
- Daily commuting by plane is widely seen as impractical: long door‑to‑door times, airport hassle, flight delays, and inability to work comfortably on budget airlines.
- Some argue commute time should be valued at one’s hourly wage, making remote or nearby living more rational. Others note salaried workers can’t always convert saved time into extra income.
- A common framing: housing/commute is a triangle of cost, comfort, and time – you can optimize at most two.
Rents, Flights & 2013 vs Now
- Multiple commenters say the numbers in the article no longer hold:
- Barcelona rents are reported to have roughly doubled in many cases; 3‑bed flats cited around €1,500–2,000+ vs €680 then.
- Flights Barcelona–London are said to be roughly twice as expensive as in 2013.
- London rents in the specific area referenced seem relatively flat by comparison.
- Some add that Brexit and longer passport queues further erode feasibility of frequent commuting.
Housing Market Dynamics
- Discussion attributes housing cost inflation to a mix of factors: low interest rates, strict zoning, property-as-investment, Airbnb, NIMBYism, concentration in prosperous cities, and limited supply.
- Barcelona and other “cheap and sunny” cities are said to have been “wrecked” by tourism, Airbnb, digital nomads, and foreign buyers, while local salaries stagnate.
- Others push back that “digital nomads” are over-blamed relative to retirees and broader capitalist dynamics; building more (often vertically) is proposed as a partial remedy.
Remote Work & Alternative Patterns
- Weekly or partial commuting (e.g., 1–3 days in London, rest remote from a cheaper city) is described as more plausible and already practiced (e.g., Iberian islands, UK–Spain, cross-border EU cases).
- Normalization of remote work post‑2020 makes such hybrid setups more realistic than daily air commuting, though still constrained by costs and local housing pressures.