Spain’s housing crisis isn’t evenly spread. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife together account for almost half of the national housing deficit — a shortfall that is pushing prices up faster than in other parts of the country.
The numbers behind the shortage
Between 2020 and 2024, Spain created around 350,000 more households than new homes. Of that total gap, 178,000 dwellings are concentrated in just these five provinces. Madrid leads the way with a deficit of almost 45,000 homes, followed closely by Barcelona (44,000), Valencia (33,000), Alicante (31,000), and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (25,000).
Other provinces with notable deficits include Murcia (24,000), Las Palmas (19,000), Tarragona (16,500), the Balearics (16,000), and Málaga (15,000), according to data from the Asociación de Consultoras Inmobiliarias (ACI).
Prices rising where supply falls short
ACI points out that these are precisely the markets with the highest demand pressure — and the fastest price growth. In most of these provinces, house prices have risen by more than 20% since 2020. The outliers are Barcelona, where growth was a more modest 16%, and hotspots like the Balearics and Málaga, where prices have soared by around 45%.
The islands stand out for their structural imbalance: limited land supply and planning restrictions make it particularly hard for construction to keep pace with demand.
Regions with breathing space
Not every corner of Spain faces a deficit. Provinces like Asturias, Guipúzcoa, Cáceres, and Burgos have built more homes than households formed in the period. Prices there have been much more stable, with some areas barely above inflation, and others — like Palencia and Zamora — even showing slight declines.
ACI notes that in 13 provinces the supply of new homes has outpaced household formation since 2020, but the impact is marginal at the national level, adding only 5,000 homes to the overall balance.
Why this matters
Spain’s housing shortage is highly localised. For buyers and investors, that means the outlook on prices depends heavily on geography. In deficit provinces, particularly Madrid, coastal hotspots, and the islands, scarcity continues to drive values higher. In surplus provinces, by contrast, prices are much more subdued.
