Growth in Spanish rental prices is decelerating. This is confirmed by the data of Fotocasa’s Property Index, which show that home rental prices in Spain rose by 2.7% in the first half of the year, to 8.52 €/m2. Accordingly, at June 2019, the monthly rent on an 80 square metre home was 682 euros.

Although this was the fifth consecutive first half of the year to show an increase in home rental prices, this latest increase is the smallest of them all: 4.4% in 2015, 5.7% in 2016, 8.3% in 2017 and 3.7% in 2018.

Comparing the results of these first halves, although rental prices increased throughout the country as a whole, in year-on-year terms several autonomous communities show decreases. This trend should continue in coming months, “especially taking into account that in some regions rents have already exceeded the highs recorded during the boom years”, according to Beatriz Toribio, Fotocasa’s head of research.

In quarter-on-quarter terms, rental prices have grown by 0.6% and by 0.8% year-on-year.

By autonomous region, Cantabria recorded the largest increase in housing rental prices in June 2019 vs December 2018 at 13.2%, followed by the autonomous communities of Murcia (8.5%) and Valencia (7.5%) with the Balearic Islands (2.1%), Castile-La Mancha (1.9%) and La Rioja (1.8%) bringing up the rear.

Of note is the fact that the autonomous community of Madrid, which has the highest level of housing rents in Spain (13.51 €/m² per month), was fourth from bottom with an increase of 2.7%.

As regards the ranking of rental prices, as mentioned above Madrid heads the list followed by Catalonia (12.59 €/m2 per month), the Basque Country (10.82 €/m2), the Balearic Islands (10.04 €/m2), Cantabria (8.38 €/m2), the Canary Islands (7.84 €/m2), Valencia (7.15 €/m2), Andalusia (6.99 €/m2), Aragon (6.77 €/m2), Asturias (6.74 €/m2), Navarra (6.16 €/m2), Galicia (5.99 €/m2), Murcia (5.84 €/m2), Castile and Leon (5.64 €/m2), Castile-La Mancha (4.96 €/m2), La Rioja (4.96 €/m2) and Extremadura (4.39 €/m2).

In provincial terms, in the first half of the year, home rental prices increased in 43 of the 48 Spanish provinces. The province that recorded the biggest increase in that period was Huelva, with 26%, followed by Girona (22.1%), Murcia (14.7%), Segovia (13.1%) and Castellón (12.2%).

On the other hand, the five provinces where home rental prices fell in June 2019 vs December 2018 were Zamora (5.2%), Cáceres (-4%), Palencia (-1.1%), Cuenca (-1.1%), and Jaén (-0.5%).

Also in provincial terms, Barcelona was the only province to exceed 14 €/m2 a month, at 14.14 €/m2. In fact, at the provincial level, Barcelona even exceeded Madrid which ranked second followed by Biscay in third place.

Renting a home with Testa Residencial

In light of these figures from Fotocasa, the increase in home rental prices in Spain in recent years is undeniable. However, the slowdown in the growth rate is also evident; a trend, which as mentioned above, many sector experts expect to consolidate in coming months.

But renting a flat in an affordable way is not difficult if you come to us. At Testa Residencial we offer a wide range of opportunities for home renting in many provincial capitals and in cities close to these urban centres.

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