Renting a room in a shared flat in Malaga now costs an average of €450 per month, making it the most expensive province in Andalucia for people unable or unwilling to rent an entire property.

Prices have risen by 6% in just one year, the biggest increase anywhere in the region, according to Idealista’s latest report covering the second quarter of the year.

And the rise comes despite the number of rooms available in Malaga remaining virtually unchanged.

Instead, growing demand appears to be putting further pressure on an already stretched market, with the number of people interested in renting a room jumping by 17% over the past year.

It means tenants increasingly face competition even at the cheaper end of Malaga’s notoriously expensive rental market.

At €450 per month, the average room in Malaga costs substantially more than anywhere else in the region.

Cadiz is the second most expensive province at €375 per month, followed closely by Sevilla at €370.

Prices then fall to €314 in Granada, €302 in Almeria, €300 in Huelva, €280 in Cordoba and just €250 in Jaen.

In other words, someone renting an average room in Malaga is paying €200 more every month than a tenant in Jaen – a difference of €2,400 over the course of a year.

Malaga’s prices are also above the Spanish national average of €425 per month.

The figures put Malaga not only at the top of Andalucia, but among the most expensive room-rental markets in the entire country.

Its €450 average is equal to Bilbao and is exceeded by only a handful of major Spanish cities.

Barcelona remains by far the most expensive, with rooms commanding an average €600 per month.

Palma and Madrid follow at €550, while San Sebastian stands at €500.

The comparison is particularly striking because room rentals have traditionally provided an affordable alternative for students, young workers and people unable to meet the cost of renting an entire apartment.

In Malaga, however, even that option is becoming increasingly expensive.

While the number of people interested in Malaga’s available rooms increased 17% year-on-year, the supply of rooms showed no increase whatsoever.

That makes Malaga something of an exception within Andalucia.

Jaen recorded a 37% surge in available rooms, followed by Granada at 34%, Almeria at 21%, Cordoba at 17% and Sevilla and Cadiz at 13%.

Only Huelva performed worse than Malaga in terms of supply, recording a 1% decline.

Across Spain as a whole, meanwhile, the number of rooms advertised increased by 12%, broadly matching the 12% increase in interested tenants.

In Malaga, demand is therefore growing without the corresponding increase in supply seen nationally.

That imbalance has coincided with Malaga recording Andalucia’s steepest increase in room prices.

Its 6% annual rise was followed by increases of 5% in Granada and Huelva, 4% in Cadiz and Jaen and 1% in Cordoba and Almeria.

Sevilla was the only Andalucian province where prices actually fell, albeit by just 1%.

Demand is increasing particularly rapidly in some of the region’s smaller rental markets. Huelva recorded an 80% surge in interested tenants, while Almeria saw an increase of 27% and Cadiz 20%.

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.