The number of active tourist apartments in Spain has plummeted over the past year, according to the latest figures from National Institute of Statistics.
In November 2025, there were 329,764 holiday rental properties across the country, representing a drop of 12.4% year-on-year (down from 376,463).
It means there are 13.6% fewer holiday apartments than in May, just before the introduction of the nationwide and mandatory short-term rental register.
The INE’s historical series shows that the current figure is the lowest since February 2023.
Compared with the peak reached in August 2024, when more than 403,200 tourist apartments were recorded, the decline now stands at 18.2%.
Tourist rentals represented 1.24% of Spain’s total housing stock in November, down from 1.43% in May 2025 and 1.41% a year earlier.
The reduction is also reflected in the number of available beds. Spain had 1.62 million tourist rental places in November 2025, compared with 1.89 million a year earlier, representing a fall of 14%.
Andalucia bucks the trend
By autonomous community, Andalucia remains Spain’s largest market for tourist apartments, with 91,757 properties. Unlike most regions, it recorded a 1.2% annual increase, bucking the national trend.
It is followed by:
- Canarias: 49,676 (-3%)
- Comunidad Valenciana: 48,411 (-25%)
- Cataluña: 46,915 (-11%)
Further down the list are Baleares, Galicia and Madrid, all now with fewer than 20,000 tourist apartments each.
Malaga remains Spain’s top province
At provincial level, Malaga continues to top the ranking, with more than 48,200 tourist properties.
It is followed by Alicante, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Other provinces in the top 20 include Baleares, Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Cadiz, Sevilla, Granada and Murcia. All remaining provinces have fewer than 3,000 tourist rentals.
The impact of the new short-term rental register
The decline coincides with the introduction of Spain’s mandatory short-term rental register, in force since July 2025.
The system applies to tourist lets, temporary rentals and room-by-room rentals, and properties without a valid registration number cannot be marketed on digital platforms involving payment.
According to data from the Colegio de Registradores, by early January:
- 299,754 homes had obtained a definitive registration number
- 16,581 had provisional approval
- 84,250 applications had been rejected (a refusal rate of 21%)
Most applications relate to tourist accommodation (72%), followed by temporary rentals (14.7%) and room-by-room lettings.
Experts urge caution
The Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana (MIVAU) has welcomed the reduction of more than 52,000 tourist apartments in six months, attributing it to the new register and to reforms of the Law on Horizontal Property, which now allow homeowners’ associations to veto tourist rentals.
The ministry argues that the measures help preserve the social function of housing, curb illegal accommodation and counter gentrification and displacement in urban neighbourhoods.
However, housing experts and economists dispute the idea that removing tourist rentals will significantly reduce long-term rental prices.
Speaking at a recent sector forum in Círculo Ecuestre, specialists stressed that holiday lets represent a small fraction of the overall housing market, and that meaningful price moderation depends primarily on increasing supply, not restricting existing uses.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
