The short-term holiday rental market in Spain is experiencing its sharpest decline in recent years: the number of accommodation listings on digital platforms in May 2026 fell by 10.7 per cent year-on-year, according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE).
According to INE data, 40,836 thousand tourist accommodation properties disappeared from the market over the course of the year. This marked the second-sharpest decline in supply in the history of the agency’s statistics.
Despite the year-on-year decline, by the start of the peak summer season the market had partially recovered compared with November 2025: supply rose by 3.4 per cent, or 11,237 thousand properties. In May, there were 341,001 thousand active tourist accommodation properties in Spain, which together provided 1.71 million beds. On average, there were around five beds per property.
The decline in supply affected all the country’s main tourist regions. The most significant drop was recorded in the Valencian Community, where the market lost nearly 12,000 properties over the year, whilst the total number of active listings fell to 51,268 thousand. As a result, the region ceded second place in terms of supply to Catalonia.
Andalusia, despite a reduction of 5,527 thousand properties, retained its status as Spain’s largest holiday accommodation market — with 90,649 thousand flats and villas. Catalonia lost 5,546 thousand properties but remained among the leaders with 51,3 thousand active listings.
A decline was also recorded in the island markets. In the Canary Islands, the number of properties fell by 2,33 thousand to 48,356 thousand, whilst in the Balearic Islands it fell by 3,057 thousand to 21,304 thousand listings.
At the provincial level, the largest markets remain the tourist coastlines. Málaga leads the way with 45,176 properties, followed by Alicante with 32,148 and Las Palmas with 26,998.
Looking at individual municipalities, the highest concentration of holiday accommodation is in Madrid, with 10,836 thousand properties. This is followed by the city of Málaga with 8,288 thousand, Barcelona with 8,231 thousand, Marbella with 6,987 thousand and Seville with 6,937 thousand properties.
Analysts attribute the decline in supply to tighter municipal regulations, the revocation of licences and growing political pressure on the short-term rental sector. In Spain, the conflict between the tourism industry, property owners and local residents has been intensifying for several years, with the latter facing a shortage of affordable long-term rentals and rising prices in major cities and resort areas.
For the property market, this marks a shift in phase. Tourist rentals remain a profitable segment, but are becoming more heavily regulated and riskier for investors. Whereas high occupancy rates and tourist numbers were previously the key factors, licences, local authority restrictions, the legal status of the property and the location’s resilience to potential bans are now becoming increasingly important.
For property buyers in Spain, this is an important signal: a property previously viewed as a short-term rental vehicle may lose some of its investment appeal should local regulations change. This is particularly true of overheated tourist areas, where the authorities are most actively restricting short-term lettings.
At the same time, a reduction in the supply of holiday apartments could support the hotel and aparthotel market, as well as partially return some properties to the long-term rental market. However, this is unlikely to provide a quick solution to the problem of housing affordability: demand for accommodation in major cities and tourist regions remains high, whilst new supply is limited.