Spanish rental prices fall by 5.6 per cent year-on-year

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Spanish rental prices have fall by 5.6 per cent year-on-year. At the end of June 2021, renting a home in Spain now costs an average of 10.7 euros per square meter.

Th decrease is more pronounced in large rental markets, led by a decline in Barcelona where prices have fallen by 13.2 per cent in one year and followed by Madrid (-12.4 per cent), Palma (-8.5 per cent), Malaga (-8.1), Seville (-7.6 per cent) and Valencia (-6.3 per cent).

According to Francisco Inareta from Idealista, “During the pandemic we have realized that stock is the factor that most directly influences rental prices, so we will have to be aware of how it evolves in the coming months to know what can happen with the rents. In any case, all the policies that bring more supply to the market will be helping to lower or contain prices, while all punitive or coercive legislation run the risk of obtaining the opposite results to those desired, that is product withdrawal and rise in prices.”

Autonomous communities

Despite the national fall, the price increased in 11 Autonomous Communities. The highest increase occurred in Cantabria (5.2 per cent), La Rioja (4.9 per cent), Castilla-La Mancha (4.9 per cent) and Galicia (4.7 per cent). With also significant increases were Navarra (3.8 per cent), Extremadura (3.6 per cent), Murcia (3.5 per cent) and Asturias (1.9 per cent). The Balearic Islands, for their part, registered the largest drop in the last 12 months at 10.7 per cent. They are followed by the decreases in Madrid (-10.5 per cent) and Catalonia (-9.3 per cent).

Madrid and Catalonia are the most expensive communities to rent a home, with 13.7 euros per m2 and 13.4 euros per m2 respectively. They are followed by the Basque Country (12.1 euros per m2) and below are the Balearic Islands (11.7 euros per m2) and the Canary Islands (10 euros per m2). On the opposite side of the table, Extremadura (5.4 euros per m2), Castilla La Mancha (5.9 euros per m2) and Murcia (6.8 euros per m2) are the cheapest communities.

Provinces

Thirty-six provinces have seen their prices increase in the last year. The greatest increase has been registered in Cuenca, where prices have increased by 11.7 per cent. The increases registered in Pontevedra (8.9 per cent), Palencia (7.3 per cent), Girona (7 per cent), Teruel (6.8 per cent) and Huelva (6.5 per cent) were also relevant. The biggest drop occurred in the Balearic Islands (-10.7 per cent), followed by Madrid (-10.5 per cent) and Barcelona (-10 per cent).

The ranking of the most expensive provinces is led by Barcelona (13.9 euros per m2 per month), Madrid (13.7 euros per m2) and Guipuzcoa (13.6 euros per m2). Jaen is the cheapest province to rent a home, with 5 euros per m2, followed by Caceres, Zamora and Ciudad Real, with 5.2 euros per m2 per month in all three cases. They are followed by Lugo (5.3 euros per m2) and Cuenca (5.3 euros per m2).

Capitals

Cuenca is the capital in which the rental price has grown the most during in the past year with an increase of 10.8 per cent. The increase registered in Melilla has also been considerable, where prices have risen by 7.5 per cent, followed by Soria (7.2 per cent) and Almeria (7 per cent).

The biggest drops are concentrated in six of the large cities where the market was most dynamic before the pandemic. Barcelona is where this decline has been most noticeable, with a 13.2 per cent year-on-year drop, followed by Madrid (-12.4 per cent), Palma (-8.5 per cent), Malaga (-8.1 per cent), Seville (-7.6 per cent) and Valencia (-6.3 per cent). They are followed by the decreases in Alicante (-4.7 per cent), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (-4.6 per cent) and Pontevedra (-3.8 per cent).

Since reaching their highest point in May 2020, Barcelona has reduced the price of its rents by 17.3 per cent, while the decrease in the city of Madrid has reached 13.4 per cent.

Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastian are the most expensive capitals, with 14.5 euros per m2 in all three cases. In fourth place is Bilbao (12.4 euros per m2) and already in fifth place is Palma (11 euros per m2). At the bottom of the table are Ciudad Real and Zamora (5.5 euros per m2 in both cases), Caceres (5.6 euros per m2), Lugo and Avila (5.7 euros per m2 in both cases).


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Deirdre Tynan

Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.

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