{
  "id": 2628916,
  "title": "Cuánto cuestan los alquileres en las grandes capitales",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/22/cuanto-cuestan-los-alquileres-en-las-grandes-capitales",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-22T18:57:34.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Expansion ES",
    "slug": "expansion-es",
    "url": "https://www.expansion.com/inmobiliario/2026/08/22/6a89a209468aeb26388b458e.html"
  },
  "original_language": "es",
  "account": "The housing rental market in major Spanish cities has become unaffordable, driven by rapid population growth, rising material costs, and a lack of new construction. With only one new home built for every three households, demand far outstrips supply, leading to a severe imbalance. This situation is even more acute in rental housing, where much of the supply has been withdrawn due to legal uncertainty and difficulty in securing rental income. Consequently, rental yields have tripled in the past few years, far outpacing wage growth, making housing unaffordable for many. Renting a medium-sized property now consumes 39% of a couple's net income, according to Idealista's latest data. This is significantly higher than the cost of buying a home, excluding mortgage and other associated expenses. Despite this, the challenge varies across the nation, with four provincial capitals standing out as exceptions: Madrid, A Coruña, Palma de Mallorca, and San Sebastián. Among cities, Palma de Mallorca leads with a 45% rental-to-salary ratio, followed by Málaga (40%), Valencia (39%), and several others. In contrast, Teruel and Ciudad Real show only 19%, while Lleida, Jaén, and Cáceres are the most affordable at 20%. These figures reveal that while rental costs have become prohibitive nationwide, exceeding 30% of recommended family income, most major cities remain below this threshold. However, this disparity is largely due to higher average salaries in urban areas compared to provincial regions. In provinces, Málaga imposes the highest rental burden at 58% of net income, followed by the Balearic Islands (48%), Valencia (38%), Alicante, Madrid, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (37%). Most of these numbers exceed the cost of buying a home, which stands at 29% of net family income on average. This is because the housing supply increasingly favors sales over rentals due to legal risks and reduced mortgage incentives, while demand is pushed into the rental market due to unaffordable initial costs. Additionally, the housing market's shift towards sales is exacerbated by a shortage of savings for down payments and other related expenses. However, there is significant variability in the housing affordability challenge. For instance, high buying costs in Palma de Mallorca (48%), Madrid (39%), San Sebastián (36%), Málaga (35%), Barcelona (32%), Valencia (28%), Alicante (27%), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Bilbao, and Santander (25%) contrast sharply with more moderate figures in Lleida (11%), Zamora (12%), Jaén, Huesca (13%), Palencia, Cuenca (14%), Teruel, Cáceres, Badajoz, Soria, Murcia, Tarragona, Córdoba, and Zaragoza (15%). Despite these differences, the disparity between rents and prices remains pronounced, even within neighboring provinces. Moreover, local factors, such as tourism-driven seasonal rentals, can significantly affect overall affordability. For example, in many coastal areas, a property can generate half its annual income through summer rentals alone, even if it remains vacant for most of the year. Nevertheless, profitability varies significantly across regions. The coastal region of Vizcaya, for example, yields just 1.79% annual returns on a 100-square-meter home, barely covering living costs during the summer season.",
  "summary": "El mercado inmobiliario está disparado, al calor del crecimiento demográfico, del aumento del coste de los materiales y la falta de obra nueva. De hecho, por cada tres nuevos hogares en el país, apenas se construye una sola vivienda, lo que dispara la tensión entre la oferta y la demanda. Leer",
  "key_points": [
    "Rental costs in Spanish major cities exceed 30% of recommended family income.",
    "Palma de Mallorca has the highest rental-to-salary ratio at 45%.",
    "Affordability varies significantly across provinces, with Lleida being the most affordable at 20%."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}