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Each flat that is put up for rent in Malaga receives an average of 71 expressions of interest. The pressure of demand has become unsustainable in the face of a supply that is not growing and is even falling in some areas, according to the 2024 'rental barometer' for Spain, a joint study carried out by the rental observatory of the rental insurance foundation and Rey Juan Carlos university.
In Andalucía Seville is the province that currently has the greatest imbalance between supply and demand, with 73 interested parties for each property available on the rental market. This is followed by Malaga and then, a long way behind, the other six provinces. The Andalusian average is 47 expressions of interest per rental.
Malaga is the most expensive province in Andalucía in terms of average rental price at 1,077 euros per month, followed by Seville at 915 euros. Both are above the regional average of 912 euros. Below are Granada with 827, Cadiz (810), Huelva (682), Cordoba (650) and Almeria (625). Jaén is the cheapest to rent with an average price of 540 euros per month, practically half the cost of a flat in Malaga.
The supply of rental housing remained practically stable in Malaga in 2024, with 48,026 homes placed on the market, 0.6% less than in the previous year. This stabilisation contrasts with the fall recorded in other areas of the country such as Catalonia, the Basque Country or, within Andalucía, Seville, where 11% fewer flats were made available. On the Andalusian map, Malaga is the province with the highest number of properties on offer, followed by Seville with 24,111 properties. This is followed by Cadiz (16,979 properties, a drop of 3.6%) and Granada with 15,676 (a slight fall 0.3%). Jaén is the area with the least supply, totalling 4,228 units (down 1.9%).
"In 2024, in Spain, some areas have seen how, in just one year, the pressure of demand has shot up to the point of overwhelming the total supply of available housing", states the report. The places where this increase has been greatest are the provinces of Catalonia and the Basque Country, the only regions that have been open about declaring the stress on the rental market in certain areas.
The zone officially declared as 'under pressure' in Catalonia came into force in March last year. Initially it affected 140 municipalities in the region and was later extended to 131 more, which, in total, represent around 90% of the regional population. "The result is that the supply of residential rental housing has plummeted, which has triggered the number of people interested in each property in all provinces, but especially in Barcelona," states the report.
The latter province is precisely the one that has experienced the greatest growth in demand in the last year. From 81 contacts per flat in 2023, already a very high figure in itself, it has risen to 421, an increase of 340 enquirers. Its effects also extend to neighbouring provinces: Girona has gone from 32 to 104 contacts per flat and Tarragona from 13 to 92, which means a growth of 72 and 79 interested parties respectively.
As for the Basque Country, so far only the municipality of Rentería in Guipúzcoa has been declared a market-stressed zone. However, the regional authorities have already announced that they plan to extend this measure to other localities in 2025, including the three provincial capital cities. So far only the city of San Sebastian has formally requested it. The number of enquiries received per property put on the market in Vizcaya has increased by 148, from 43 in 2023 to 191 in 2024. In Álava, the increase has been 108, while in Guipúzcoa the increase is 64 and there are now 95 people interested in each apartment.
Beyond the regions where these official zones have been declared, other provinces that have registered significant increases in rental market pressure over the past year are Madrid (+55), Seville (+53), A Coruña (+49), Las Palmas (+49), Valencia (+49), Guadalajara (+47) and Alicante (+42).
Since the end of the coronavirus pandemic the supply of housing available for rent in Spain has continued to fall while demand has increased. Last year, 717,338 homes came onto the rental market in the country as a whole, according to the Observatorio del Alquiler report. This is 96,512 fewer than were put on the market in 2023, a fall of 11.9%. Five years ago the figure stood at 982,194, which means that the supply has fallen by more than 264,856 properties, 27% in percentage terms.
If supply has fallen in the last year by 96,512 homes, 37,043 of these have been in Barcelona, that is to say, 38.4% of the total. The authors of the study attribute this sharp fall to the control of rental prices that has been implemented in the Catalan capital.
In addition to Barcelona, other provinces where supply has fallen considerably in the last year are Alicante (-7,992), Asturias (-6,291), Vizcaya (-5,702), Las Palmas (-3,995) and Seville (-3,105). Since 2019 the largest falls have occurred in Barcelona (-75,548), Madrid (-34,798), Valencia (-16,813), Alicante (-13,879), Asturias (-9,877), Vizcaya (-9,158), Seville (-7,676) and Las Palmas (-7,542)
The average rental price in Spain in 2024 reached 1,118 euros, 11.3% more than in 2023 when it stood at 1,002. The increase in prices is a sustained trend that has been observed in the market for some time, but never before have such high values been recorded as in the last year. However, there are large differences between provinces in terms of the price that tenants pay for a rented property. Thus, while some are above 1,000 euros, others are barely over 600.
The most expensive province to live in for rent in Spain is Barcelona, with an average price of 1,604 euros, 11% more than the previous year. There are eight other locations above 1,000 euros. These are the Balearic Islands (1,598), Madrid (1,495), Guipúzcoa (1,430), Vizcaya (1,232), Málaga (1,191), Las Palmas (1,070), Valencia (1,044) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1,031).
Above 900 euros per month on average are Navarra (992), Álava (988), Girona (959), Alicante (949) and Seville (915). In the 800-900 euros bracket are places such as Segovia (873), Granada (827), Tarragona (811), Cadiz (810), Pontevedra (806) and Ceuta (803).
These are, in most cases, the most populated provinces and those located in the areas with the most dynamic local economies, as well as those where the tourism sector features heavily.
In the rest of the country rental prices are more affordable, although they have also been on an upward trend for some years. Among the provinces where the average rent ranges between 700 and 800 euros are Salamanca (793), Zaragoza (775), Cantabria (768), Melilla (745), Guadalajara (743), A Coruña (741), Valladolid (726), Murcia (724) and Asturias (720).
In places such as La Rioja (693), Castellón (690), Toledo (687), Huelva (682), Lleida (679), Albacete (671), Cordoba (650), Soria (646), Burgos (642), Almeria (625) and Ourense (620), the average rental price is in the range of between 600 and 700 euros. In the 500-600 group we find areas such as León (595), Ávila (584), Cuenca (576), Huesca (570), Cáceres (563), Badajoz (550), Lugo (543), Jaen (540), Palencia (521) and Zamora (520). In Ciudad Real (496) and Teruel (484), prices do not exceed 500 euros on average.
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