Buying a property in an urban area is 38% more expensive than in a rural location in the Balearics, according to a report by the real estate portal Idealista. Although the Community of Madrid has the largest gap, at 131%, with prices in urban areas reaching €4,821 per square metre, compared to an average of €2,085 per square metre in rural areas, above Madrid is the Balearics, with €5,246/m² in the city and also leading the prices in “foravila” (out of town), with €3,801/m², with a difference in the region of 38%.
Nationally, buying a house in an urban environment costs 99% more than buying one in a rural area, and Madrid has the largest price gap at 131%, according to data from the Idealista property portal with figures from the end of 2025. The average price of second-hand housing for sale in urban areas, those with the highest population density, was €2,906 per square metre on average at the end of 2025, while in rural areas, which are less populated and have other types of housing, it was €1,459 per square metre on average.
According to Idealista, which has more than 1,200,000 listings of flats and houses for sale or rent, the highest prices for rural housing are in the Balearics, Guipúzcoa, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Málaga and Vizcaya. And, the average price of a room in Spain is €521 per month, which is 62% more than five years ago (2020) and 97% more than ten years ago (2015), according to Fotocasa’s study “Shared Housing in Spain in 2025”.
Compared to 2024, the price of a room has barely risen by 0.1%. Despite the slight year-on-year increase in December 2025, the monthly price is the highest recorded in the last 10 years of analysis.
‘The stability of room prices in 2025 is not due to a relaxation of the market, but to the strong adjustment accumulated in previous years,’ said María Matos, director of research at Fotocasa.
However, the expert indicated that this stagnation should not be interpreted as an improvement in accessibility. On the contrary, prices remain at historic highs, which consolidates room rental as a ‘forced solution’ in the face of the impossibility of accessing a complete home. By region, the autonomous communities that have been affected by the increase in room rentals in 2025 are, in order: Castilla-La Mancha (+12.5%), Cantabria (+8.2%), Extremadura (+8%), Castilla y León (+4.9%) and Galicia (4%).
They are followed by: Madrid (+3.7%), the Valencian Community (+3.1%), the Region of Murcia (+3.1%), the Canary Islands (+2.9%), Navarre (+2.5%), Asturias (+2.3%), La Rioja (+2%), Aragon (+1.9%), the Basque Country (+1.2%), the Balearics (+1%) and Catalonia (+0.4%). On the other hand, the region where the annual price fell was Andalusia (-3%). In terms of prices, there are four regions with prices above €500 per month: Catalonia with €638 per month; Madrid with €608; the Balearics with €580 and the Basque Country with €580 per month.