Half a hundred families compete for each rental advert in Palma, according to the real estate platform Idealista, which adds that, with these figures, the Balearic capital is only second to Barcelona, which leads the study with 64 families. In the second quarter of 2024, the advertisements for homes for rent published on the platform in Palma received an average of 32 contacts before being taken down, a figure that is 55% higher than that recorded in the same period of 2023, when they received an average of 21 contacts, according to the study.
According to Idealista’s spokesperson, Francisco Iñareta, the number of families competing for each rental property “continues to grow, which is evidence of the effects of the destruction of supply caused by all the political measures adopted over the last six years. With hardly any housing on the market, the possibilities of accessing a rental property are drastically reduced, making it especially difficult for young people and vulnerable groups”.
Furthermore, Iñareta pointed out that competition between potential tenants generates situations of anxiety and frustration. In this sense, he considered that “reversing this situation in a realistic way should be the focus of rental policies, through measures that increase supply instead of those that are currently being applied, which only manage to reduce it more and more”. According to the report, Barcelona and Palma are followed by Madrid with 43 families, Malaga with 37 and Valencia with 35.
Behind them are San Sebastian (34 families), Alicante and Seville (31 families in both cases). Bilbao, on the other hand, is the largest market with the lowest volume: 27 interested parties per rental property advertisement. At the other end of the scale are the markets of the cities of Salamanca (with only 7 families interested in each advert), Badajoz (with 9 families), Cáceres (10 families), Ourense (11 families), Ciudad Real, Córdoba and Jaén (which have 12 families in all 3 cases).
On the other hand, the last 12 months in which the Housing Law has been in force have accelerated the stress suffered by families looking for rented housing. In Spain, the growth has been 55%, increasing in all the capitals except in Cuenca (-13%) and Teruel (-5%). Among the large markets, Barcelona is the one that has registered the greatest increase in the number of people interested in each advert, with 100% more than a year ago. It is followed by increases in Bilbao (97%), Seville (70%), Madrid (60%), San Sebastian (49%), Alicante (48%), Palma (32%), Valencia (21%) and Malaga (20%).
In addition to Barcelona, there are nine capitals where the number of interested families has more than doubled, although most of them are cities where the number of people interested in each advertisement was very low. These are the cities of Palencia (209%), Oviedo (171%), Valladolid (167%), Huesca (149%), Burgos (122%), Jaén (112%), Guadalajara (107%), Zaragoza (104%) and Córdoba (104%).