SPAIN’S shortage of available homes to buy is continuing to rise according to figures published by the Bank of Spain.
It has calculated a shortage of 750,000 homes- up by 150,000 on a year ago.
The entity said that 240,000 new households were created in 2025, but only 92,000 new properties were constructed.
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High demand and low availability is causing big price rises, coupled with a clamour for tourist flat rentals.
There are 330,000 properties available of rent via online platforms, according to the National Statistics Institute.
These homes attract the interest of millions of tourists, who in turn boost prices and lead to- according to critics- a reduction in the quality of life in city districts as a result of gentrification.
“In the period 2021-2025, home purchases by non-resident buyers accounted for 7.4% of the total, with an annual average of 50,000 dwellings”, the Bank of Spain report states, stressing that this problem is particularly acute on the Mediterranean coast.
There is also the ironic situation that around 450,000 properties built during the property boom two decades ago are still unoccupied.
That is because they were erected in locations that were unsuitable for families or because of their state of repair.
The Director General of Economics for the Bank of Spain, David Lopez Salido, commented that the country’s ‘substantial deficit’ of housing will continue to rise due to demographic evolution and the pace of household creation while restrictions on supply are maintained.
“And in the medium term, this is what we want to change,” he stressed.
Lopez Salido has demanded measures to improve housing supply as well ‘targeted’ measures for certain very vulnerable groups.
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