The Spanish real estate market is going through a period marked by a severe shortage of available housing. Since the second quarter of 2019, the average number of homes for sale in Spain has dropped by 39%, according to a recent report by Idealista. This figure confirms a clear trend: there are far fewer properties to buy today than just six years ago. However, the decline has not been uniform across the country. In some local markets, the shortage is so extreme that the supply of available homes has fallen by nearly 80%, reflecting a deep imbalance between supply and demand that continues to drive property prices upward.
Between 2015 and 2022, Spain experienced a phase of maximum housing availability. It was during this period that the number of properties for sale reached record highs. However, these peaks were reached at different times depending on the city. In Madrid and Palma de Mallorca, the highest levels of housing supply were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015, while Bilbao and San Sebastián reached their peak in the second quarter of 2016. In Valencia, Seville, Alicante, and Málaga, the maximum stock was reached in late 2016, whereas in Barcelona it arrived much later, during the fourth quarter of 2019. Since then, the market has gradually absorbed that excess stock, leaving Spain with minimal availability today.
The subsequent evolution has been striking. In 45 of Spain’s 52 provincial capitals, housing supply has been reduced by half or even more. Valencia leads this decline, with a staggering 78% drop in available homes for sale. It is followed by Segovia and A Coruña (both down 77%), and by Cuenca, Santander, and Bilbao, where supply has fallen by 75%. Other notable declines include Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Ávila (–74%), Vitoria and Pontevedra (–73%), as well as Guadalajara, Toledo, Salamanca, Zaragoza, and Pamplona, all around –71%. Among the major markets, beyond Valencia and Bilbao, supply has fallen 67% in Seville, 66% in Alicante and San Sebastián, 53% in Madrid, and 51% in Palma. Only Barcelona (–47%) and Málaga (–45%) remain below the 50% threshold. The mildest declines are seen in Jaén (–29%), Cáceres (–33%), and Granada (–32%), which record the most moderate reductions in the country.
The Idealista report also reveals that the extent of this decline varies depending on the region. In terms of provinces, the drop in housing availability has been slightly less severe overall, though still highly significant. In 23 Spanish provinces, the supply of homes has fallen by more than 50%. The steepest provincial declines occurred in Biscay (Vizcaya) and Álava (–70%), followed by Segovia (–67%), Guadalajara and Cantabria (–66%), Navarra (–65%), and Valencia and Huesca (–64%). In the Community of Madrid, the number of homes for sale has dropped by 60%, while in the province of Barcelona, the fall has been 34%.
Only Alicante and Jaén show drops below 20%, at 17% and 19%, respectively. Cáceres recorded a 20% decline, while Málaga, Murcia, and Granada complete the group of provinces with the mildest decreases, down 27%, 31%, and 32%, respectively. Even so, the overall trend is unmistakable: the shortage of housing supply is a widespread phenomenon affecting nearly all parts of Spain.
Several factors explain this contraction. On one hand, strong housing demand has been fueled by improved financing conditions and the growing preference among buyers to own rather than rent. On the other hand, the slower pace of construction and development of new housing — particularly in large cities where available land is scarce and urban planning regulations are stricter — has deepened the shortage.
The result is a housing market where properties sell faster than ever and prices continue to climb. With a shrinking supply and demand that shows no sign of cooling, the Spanish real estate market faces a structural challenge: how to ensure access to housing in a landscape where scarcity has become the new normal.
