The Balearics had a total of 105,434 empty homes in 2021, which is 23.9% more than the 85,062 that existed a decade earlier, according to data from Tinsa.
According to the same data, on the other hand, empty housing in the provincial capitals has been reduced by 32% since 2001, while the unused stock has increased by 24% at national level.
The document ‘Situation of empty housing in Spain’ also highlights that in the six main capitals of the country (by volume of residential stock), this rate of decline is intensifying, with a 40% drop in the number of empty homes in the last 20 years.
The latest INE statistics, referring to 2021, estimate the number of empty dwellings in Spain at 3.8 million units.
Half of the empty dwellings are concentrated in 14 provinces which tend to be located in coastal areas, while the other half are highly dispersed.
In the case of Mallorca, for example, against the background of a housing shortage, there is much discussion regarding the number of empty properties.
The focus of this discussion is normally always Palma, with the situation in the rest of Mallorca generally ignored.
But there are some striking figures regarding these empty properties, none more so than the figure for Costitx.
It has a total of 1,306 dwellings. Of these, 714 are empty, 54.7%.
Why is there such a high number? The president of the College of Real Estate Agents, José Miguel Artieda, says that it is partly due to a reluctance to rent properties out. More than this is the fact that many of the homes that appear in the census as empty should actually be registered as uninhabitable.
However, contrary to this a property in Puerto de Andratx and another in Cala Vinyes, Mallorca, are among the 10 most expensive houses in Spain, according to the property portal Idealista. In a press release, Idealista has reported that the 2,059 square metres property in Puerto de Andratx, is on the market for 24,995,000 million and it is the most expensive home currently for sale on the market in the Balearics and the seventh most expensive in Spain.
Meanwhile, the 1,437 square metres property located in Cala Vinyes, in the municipality of Calvia, is on the market for 24,000,000 million euros, the eighth most expensive property for sale in the country.