In the third quarter of 2026, each rental listing published on idealista received an average of 43 enquiries before being taken down. In the same period of 2018, the figure was 8, meaning competition rose by 405% in eight years, according to an idealista study. In no provincial capital has growth been below 190% over that period.<\/p>\n
The increase in competition between households for each listing has become widespread, and is particularly intense in small and medium-sized cities. Since 2018, eight provincial capitals have recorded increases of more than 1,000% in the number of people interested in each home: Lleida (3,036%), Tarragona (1,899%), Guadalajara (1,629%), Burgos (1,391%), Zamora (1,377%), Cuenca (1,079%), Huelva (1,059%) and Palencia (1,021%). They are followed by Oviedo (958%), Soria (915%), Castell\u00f3n de la Plana (909%), Valladolid and Ourense (both 896%) and Badajoz (885%).<\/p>\n
Among the large cities, Zaragoza leads the rise, at 974%, followed by Bilbao (740%) and Barcelona (714%). Next come Alicante (471%), M\u00e1laga (446%), Palma (418%), Valencia (397%), San Sebasti\u00e1n (372%), Seville (362%) and Madrid (318%). In absolute terms, enquiries per listing have gone from 11 to 92 in Barcelona and from 12 to 49 in Madrid.<\/p>\n
At the other end, the smallest increases were in C\u00e1diz (190%), Madrid (318%), Seville (362%), San Sebasti\u00e1n (372%), Valencia (397%) and Lugo (405%). The capitals that currently attract the most interested households per home are Guadalajara (137 enquiries), Vitoria (131), Tarragona (125) and Pamplona (117).<\/p>\n
Provincial capitals whose market has been declared a stressed area, where a cap is set on the rent of new contracts, have also seen this increase. In eight of the nine included in the study, competition has grown by more than 500% since 2018: Lleida (3,036%), Tarragona (1,899%), Girona (827%), Bilbao (740%), Barcelona (714%), Vitoria (680%), A Coru\u00f1a (596%) and Pamplona (569%).<\/p>\n
San Sebasti\u00e1n is the exception, with an increase of 372%. In addition, four of the five capitals with the most interested households per listing are stressed areas: Vitoria (131), Tarragona (125), Pamplona (117) and Lleida (105). By contrast, large markets without that designation, such as Madrid (318%), Seville (362%), Valencia (397%), Palma (418%), M\u00e1laga (446%) and Alicante (471%), show increases below 500%.<\/p>\n
Since 2018, Lleida is the province where competition for each rental home has risen the most, by 1,971%. It is followed by Cuenca (1,299%), Burgos (1,292%), Zamora (1,141%) and Tarragona (1,008%). Guadalajara (998%), Palencia (975%), Ourense (970%), Biscay (944%), Zaragoza (928%) and Badajoz (913%) also exceed 900%.<\/p>\n
The smallest provincial increases are in the Balearic Islands (221%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (226%), M\u00e1laga (255%), Almer\u00eda (258%) and Alicante (280%). Barcelona (743%) and Madrid (363%) are in the middle of the table. In every province, the rise has been at least 200%.<\/p>\n
The data were collected and analysed by idealista\/data, idealista’s proptech arm, which provides information to professionals to help them make strategic decisions in Spain, Italy and Portugal. To deliver valuation, investment, acquisition and market analysis services, it uses all the parameters of the idealista database in each country, as well as other public and private sources of information.<\/p>\n