When considering the purchase of a property in Spain, or deciding whether to enter the market with a real estate investment, it is essential to analyze prices in order to make a more informed decision. To do so, we need to take a look at the real estate market and how it has evolved.
It is common to read articles in the press about the difficulties of accessing the real estate market, particularly for young people in Spain. Housing prices and rents are often cited as prohibitive, due to a lack of supply and rising interest rates.
According to the real estate property valuation firm Tinsa, the average home price in Spain rose by 15.48% in the second quarter of 2026 (compared to the second quarter of 2025). This brings the average price per square meter to around €2,070. See Precio de la vivienda en España, Tinsa, available at https://www.tinsa.es/precio-vivienda/
As we’ve mentioned, a lack of supply and rising interest rates are often cited as the causes of rising housing prices. It is important to note that, between 2007 and 2008, approximately 600,000 new homes were built in Spain as part of the so-called “real estate boom” the country experienced in the first decade of this century. The financial crisis that began around 2008 led to a collapse in housing construction and a sudden halt in new home purchases: by 2010, there was a stock of unsold homes numbering around 680,000. See Cinco Días, “España acumula todavía 700.000 casas sin vender después de tres años de crisis”, 6 july 2011, available at https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2011/07/06/economia/1309931780_850215.html
At this point, new housing construction came to a virtual standstill, dropping to 75,000 units per year and leading to the absorption of the housing surplus that had been building up. It wasn’t until 2016 that housing construction figures began to rise again. But we must not lose sight of Spain’s population growth, from about 46.8 million in 2010 to about 49.1 million by early 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics. This population growth absorbs not only new housing but primarily existing homes.Furthermore, half of Spain’s vacant homes are located in towns with fewer than 20,000 residents, and another 30% are in towns with between 20,000 and 150,000 residents, leaving only a small supply of available housing in large cities.
Furthermore, the provinces with the smallest stock of vacant housing are those that have experienced the greatest strain due to the increase in the number of households (between 2021 and 2023), which means that Spain’s vacant (available) housing is located in areas where there is less demand. See Zaragoza, A., e Ibáñez, R., “Previsiones de construcción de vivienda residencial”, en Mercado inmobiliario y política de la vivienda en España, coordinado por Carbó Valverde, S., ed. Funcas, Madrid, 2024.
There are some tools that offer an overview of the prices and the evolution of price per square meter in Spain. One of the most used portals is Idealista, that provides information on the evolution of the price of properties in Spain by region or province, with the variation of prices over the last year. See Idealista (June 2026), Evolución del precio de la Vivienda en venta en España. Available at https://www.idealista.com/sala-de-prensa/informes-precio-vivienda/
In June 2026, the newspaper El País published a detailed infographic—including an interactive map—on housing prices in Spain, highlighting the districts with the highest demand. See Grasso, D., Andrino, B., y Llaneras, K., El mapa del precio real de la vivienda en España, calle a calle, 11 june 2026, available at https://elpais.com/economia/vivienda/2026-06-11/el-mapa-del-precio-real-de-la-vivienda-en-espana-calle-a-calle.html
In addition to these factors, there are others, such as increased demand from abroad for use as vacation rentals, or demand for second homes by Spanish residents looking to relocate or purchase a vacation home. The number of home purchases in Spain made by foreigners accounts for about 10% of the total in Spain, a figure that is on the rise, according to the National Institute of Statistics, although these transactions are concentrated in very specific regions and their impact should be analyzed with caution. As for the purchase of second homes by Spanish residents, this also accounts for about 10% of the total.
The literature identifies as a key factor in the rise in housing prices in Spain the disparity that has existed since approximately 2021 between housing supply (about 100,000 homes per year) and market demand, which continues to create new households (about 250,000 per year), along with a shortage of housing in major population centers and a lack of new construction. See Zaragoza, A., e Ibáñez, R., “Previsiones de construcción de vivienda residencial”, en Mercado inmobiliario y política de la vivienda en España, coordinado por Carbó Valverde, S., ed. Funcas, Madrid, 2024.
All of these factors must be taken into account when deciding where and when to invest in Spain.
Finally, we recommend reviewing the publications of the National Institute of Statistics, which provides a Housing Price Index where you can view the annual change in the price of new and resale homes in Spain, with data from recent years. The National Institute of Statistics publishes press releases that present this data in a clear and simplified manner for the public. For example, you can consult the press release dated June 8, 2026, regarding the Índice de Precios de Vivienda of the first quarter of 2026, available at https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/es/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736152838&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735976607