A new survey suggests estate agents are becoming more cautious, with fewer expecting sales and prices to rise over the next quarter, while stability is increasingly seen as the most likely outcome.

The mood in Spain’s property market is becoming more cautious, with estate agents expecting fewer sales and slower price growth in the months ahead, according to the latest quarterly confidence survey from idealista, Spain’s biggest property portal.

Estate agents turn more cautious

Idealista’s latest Real Estate Sentiment Index (ESI) for the third quarter of 2026 points to a noticeable cooling in expectations across both the sales and rental markets. While most agents still expect activity to remain stable, optimism has faded compared to the previous quarter.

The biggest change is in price expectations. Just 23% of estate agents now expect house prices to rise in their local market over the next three months, down sharply from 39% in the previous survey. Meanwhile, the proportion expecting prices to remain broadly unchanged has climbed to almost 60%, while those forecasting price falls have increased to 16%—the highest level so far this year.

Expectations for sales activity have also softened. Fewer agents expect to sell more homes, while more believe transactions will decline. The survey comes at a time when completed sales were already down 3.4% up to May, and agents report that negotiations are taking longer to conclude.

Rental market also losing momentum

The rental market shows a similar pattern. Although supply remains severely constrained, agents have become less convinced that rents will continue rising at the pace seen in recent years.

The proportion expecting rental price increases has fallen from 37% to 27%, while a clear majority now expects rents to stabilise. According to the survey, many agents believe rents may have reached the limit of what tenants can realistically afford.

The supply problem remains acute. More agencies expect to lose rental listings than gain them, and almost one in three respondents says they no longer operate in the rental market because of the administrative burdens created by Spain’s Housing Law.

What it means

The survey does not suggest that Spain’s housing market is heading for a downturn. Rather, it points to a market that is cooling after a period of strong price growth, with estate agents increasingly expecting stability rather than further acceleration.

Whether those expectations prove accurate remains to be seen. Confidence surveys capture sentiment rather than hard data, but they can provide an early indication of changing market conditions before they show up in official sales and price statistics.