Spain has lost 20% of its permanent rental listings in three years. Seasonal homes have more than doubled as rent controls change the choices facing landlords and tenants.
In August 2026, the average asking rent in Spain reached €15.1 per square metre. An 80-square-metre home therefore cost more than €1,200 a month on average. Rents rose 5.8% in a year.
At the same time, Spain had one-fifth fewer permanent rental homes than in 2023. Seasonal listings more than doubled. Tenants now compete for fewer homes with stable contracts.
The shortage is part of a wider housing squeeze described in an earlier report. Idealista recorded the sharpest fall in permanent listings soon after Congress approved the Housing Law in late May 2023. Supply fell 15% between the first quarters of 2023 and 2024.
Public and social rental housing accounts for less than 2% of Spain’s housing stock, compared with about 8% on average across the European Union.
The decline then slowed. Permanent rental availability fell 3% year on year at the start of 2025. It dropped by a similar rate at the start of 2026. Between April and June this year, supply was down just 0.2% from the same period in 2025.
The numbers still point down. The Observatorio del Alquiler of Fundación Alquiler Seguro estimates that Spain had about 813,850 rental homes in 2023. By the second quarter of 2026, that figure had fallen 18.8% to 660,993 properties.
Every region saw a contraction. País Vasco took the biggest hit, with supply down 59.2%. The fall exceeded 30% in Navarra, Cataluña and Asturias. It stayed below 15% in Comunidad Valenciana, Andalucía and Madrid.
Stable homes are getting harder to find.
Reuters, citing the Bank of Spain, reports a current housing shortfall of roughly 750,000 homes that could exceed one million by 2028. The gap reflects a persistent imbalance between the growth in households and population and the much slower pace of new construction, particularly in Madrid, Barcelona, the islands, the Mediterranean coast and other major cities.
A Fedea study found that price controls in designated stressed areas slowed rent increases. The same controls also reduced supply. More tenants then competed for fewer properties.
The restrictions now apply in 317 municipalities across five autonomous communities. Cataluña was the first region to declare stressed areas. It has used the controls since March 2024.
País Vasco followed, although its rent reference index was not available until this year. In Navarra, the controls have been in place for a year across 21 municipalities. The regional government says average rent there fell 5.3% to €796 a month.
Signed contracts fell 29.5% in Navarra during the second quarter of 2026. The trade-off is plain.
Cataluña shows the same pattern. Data from the Institut Català del Sòl, known as Incasòl, show that average rent in controlled areas fell 1.3% in two years. It dropped from €887.9 at the start of 2024 to €876.6 in the first quarter of 2026.
Outside those areas, average rent rose 9.5%, from €584 to €639.6. Signed contracts still fell 18.6%, from 34,495 to 28,079 over the same period.
Seasonal rentals are taking in part of the supply that has left the permanent market. The model covers temporary needs such as study or work. It is not governed by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos.
That means less protection for tenants. Landlords have more freedom to set prices. Idealista says seasonal listings have more than doubled in three years in both stressed and non-stressed areas. Increases exceeded 130% in Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla.
The Government plans to include seasonal rental rules in a housing measures decree. It intends to take the decree to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.
The Sindicato de Inquilinas is also demanding that change through its proposed 'decreto Maricarmen'. The Ministry of Housing says the executive plans to raise VAT on tourist apartments. The change would tax them as the business they are.
The ministry is also negotiating protections against annual renewals and abusive increases in areas without rent controls.
The policy trade-off is clear. Rent controls can slow price rises in designated areas. They have also coincided with fewer permanent contracts and fewer homes on the market.
Seasonal rentals give landlords a less restricted option. Tenants get weaker protection. If policy shifts homes between categories instead of expanding stable supply, renters will face a smaller market and more competition for every permanent home.
