Data recently released by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) shows that as of May 2026, there were 341,001 registered tourist accommodations, accounting for 1.28% of the country’s total housing stock. Compared to the same period last year, the overall number of these short-term rental properties has dropped by 10.7%. This indicates that the gradual tightening of regulatory policies across various regions is starting to show results, yet the extreme regional disparities in distribution continue to cause deep-seated structural housing problems.
National Numbers Drop Amid Significant Regional Disparities
Under the combined effect of increasingly strict short-term rental regulations and a shifting market environment, most of Spain’s autonomous communities have seen a significant reduction in tourist accommodations. The Community of Madrid leads the country with a sharp 27.6% year-on-year decrease, followed by the Region of Murcia with a 19.6% drop. Among all regions, only La Rioja bucked the trend with a slight increase of 0.8%. The primary drivers behind this substantial contraction in supply are the restrictive ordinances enacted by various local governments, coupled with some property owners voluntarily exiting the tourist rental market due to thinning profit margins or rising compliance costs.
Major Cities Remain Core Hubs for Short-Term Rentals
In terms of absolute numbers, short-term vacation rentals remain highly concentrated in metropolitan areas and famous holiday destinations. The city of Madrid tops the national list with 10,836 tourist accommodations. Traditional hotspots like Málaga, Barcelona, Seville, and Marbella follow closely, forming the top tier of Spain’s short-term rental supply.
Looking at the scale by autonomous community, Andalusia leads the nation by a wide margin with 90,649 tourist accommodations. Catalonia and the Valencian Community each have around 51,000, while the Canary Islands have approximately 48,000. The Balearic Islands and Galicia also maintain a high inventory of tourist housing.
Smaller Tourist Towns Face a Sharper Housing Squeeze
Although major cities have a large absolute number of properties, the housing pressure is more acute in smaller tourist towns when measured by the proportion of tourist accommodations to the total local housing stock. In Verde-Bardají, tourist housing accounts for a staggering 33.33% of all homes. In places like La Oliva, Roncesvalles, and Yaiza, this ratio also exceeds the 20% mark.
In the ranking of autonomous communities by this percentage, the Canary Islands come in first at 4.44%, followed by the Balearic Islands and Andalusia at 3.27% and 1.94%, respectively. Cantabria, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, and Asturias all have ratios above 1%. This extremely high density of short-term rentals severely squeezes the long-term rental market in these areas.
Imbalanced Property Distribution Continues to Drive Up Local Housing Costs
The INE’s analytical report emphasizes that although the total number of tourist accommodations has shown a temporary decline, this has not substantially eased the significant impact on the local housing market. In the capital, coastal island resorts, and small towns heavily reliant on tourism, short-term rentals still make up an excessively high proportion of housing. A large number of homes originally intended for long-term residency have been converted into short-term tourist lets, leading to a further scarcity of long-term and for-sale properties and directly increasing competition for local residents in both renting and buying.
Looking ahead, the future of Spain’s short-term rental market remains uncertain, subject to evolving tourist demand and changing landlord preferences. Balancing the need to accommodate a vast number of tourists while effectively protecting the fundamental housing rights of local residents will be a long-term test of governance for major tourist cities.
