This rental optimisation project in Eixample Dreta, Barcelona addressed a straightforward but extremely common situation: a well-located apartment that was generating significantly less rental income than its district ceiling allowed, entirely because of its finish condition. The property is a 78 m² two-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of a 1920s Modernista building near Carrer de Balmes. The owner had held the apartment for eleven years and rented it continuously at €1,450 per month. At the time of project commissioning, comparable apartments in the same building and street were achieving between €1,950 and €2,200 per month. The gap was not the market. It was the apartment.
The Rental Optimisation Analysis
Before a scope was agreed, Lirian conducted a rental ceiling analysis for the specific sub-market: Eixample Dreta, 70–90 m², two bedrooms, fourth floor and above. The analysis covered 34 active listings and 18 recently signed contracts sourced from portal data. The findings were clear. Apartments achieving the upper band of the rental range shared three consistent characteristics: updated kitchen and bathroom, good floor condition, and a fresh and well-lit interior. Apartments sitting at the lower band, including this one, had at least two of those three elements missing.
The renovation scope was defined by the analysis rather than by a desire to over-renovate. We did not reconfigure the layout. We did not replace the structural joinery. We did not install premium materials where mid-premium would perform identically in the rental market. Every decision in this rental optimisation project in Eixample Dreta was calibrated to the payback period: the investment divided by the monthly rental uplift.
At a cost of €33,500 and a rental uplift of €650 per month, the payback period is 51 months — just over four years — on a flat that will then continue to generate at the higher rate indefinitely, in a district where rental values have appreciated consistently for the past decade.
Scope of Work
The renovation covered the kitchen in full, the bathroom in full, all flooring, all walls, all ceiling lighting, and the replacement of the front and internal doors. The structural layout, plumbing positions, and electrical distribution were retained entirely.
Floors
The original flooring — a mix of worn timber parquet in the living areas and cracked terracotta tiles in the kitchen — was removed throughout. In its place, we installed wide-plank warm oak LVP in a 20 × 120 cm format across the entire apartment, including kitchen and bathroom thresholds. The choice of LVP over solid timber reflects rental market realities: it is dimensionally stable, scratch-resistant, and requires no maintenance from tenants. It photographs as timber and performs significantly better over a tenancy cycle.
Kitchen
The kitchen was fully stripped and rebuilt within the existing footprint. Flat-panel lacquered white cabinetry with integrated handles runs the full perimeter. The worktop is a 30mm mid grey quartz. The splashback is a large-format white porcelain panel. Brushed chrome tapware. A new concealed extractor replaces the previous surface-mounted unit. The visual result is clean, functional, and clearly a product that belongs in the upper rental tier of the district.
Bathroom
The bathroom was completely replaced. Large-format warm white stone-look porcelain tiles in a 60 × 120 cm format on both floor and walls. Wall-hung toilet and vanity in white gloss. A fully enclosed walk-in shower replaced the old combined bath and shower unit. Brushed chrome accessories. A wide frameless mirror with LED integrated lighting across the full vanity width — a detail that makes the bathroom feel significantly larger than its footprint and photographs very well for listing images.
Walls and Lighting
All walls were replastered where required and repainted throughout in warm white. Ceiling lighting was replaced entirely with recessed LED panels in the kitchen and bathroom and warm-tone pendant points in the living room and bedrooms. The lighting upgrade is one of the most underrated interventions in a rental optimisation: listing photographs taken in good light generate measurably more enquiries, and tenants in viewings form faster positive decisions in well-lit spaces.
Result
The apartment was listed at €2,100 per month following handover. It let within eleven days. The previous tenancy had taken 34 days to fill at €1,450. The combination of an increased rent, a shorter void period, and a new tenancy on a three-year contract delivers a return profile that substantially outperforms any alternative deployment of the €33,500 invested.
