Else Beekman
Spain has around four million empty homes, but most are in poor condition or in places where few people want to live. As a result, they’re doing little to help solve the country’s ongoing housing shortage.
With house prices and rents rising across Spain, there simply aren’t enough homes in the right places to meet growing demand. At the same time, a surprising number of properties sit unused. According to a 2025 survey by real estate site Fotocasa, 3% of homeowners say they own a vacant property, and 40% of these have been empty for more than five years.
This matches the latest figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), which counted nearly 3.8 million vacant homes in its most recent housing census. That’s about 14% of all homes in the country. Although the data dates back to 2021, it’s still the most complete picture available. To improve accuracy, the INE used electricity records to help identify which homes were truly unoccupied.
Why so many are unusable
You might think putting these empty homes back on the market would help ease the housing crisis. In reality, most of them need major repairs or are located in areas where demand is low.
“The vast majority of vacant properties are not in a liveable condition or require significant renovation,” says María Matos, Head of Research at Fotocasa. For many owners, the cost of fixing them up is simply too high.
What’s more, many of these homes are in small towns or rural areas, far from cities like Madrid or Barcelona where demand is highest. So even if they were renovated, they wouldn’t do much to ease pressure in the places where housing is most needed.
Housing shortage in Malaga and 150,000 empty homes
Who owns these homes?
The typical owner of an empty home in Spain is a man around 53 years old, usually from a middle or upper-middle income group. Most live in their main home and own at least one additional property.
Among people who own just one home, only 1% say they have an empty property. That figure rises to 6% for those with two homes—and jumps to 26% for people with three or more.
More than half of these owners are between 55 and 75 years old. A third live with a partner and children, while others live as couples without children or alone.
Where are the empty homes?
Some regions have more empty homes than others. Andalusia has the highest share of homeowners with vacant properties (2.5%), followed by Madrid (2.1%) and the Valencia region (2%).
Catalonia—despite facing its own housing issues—has the lowest rate, with just 1.7% of homeowners reporting an unused property.
According to the latest breakdown by province, the areas with the highest number of empty homes overall are Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, and Alicante. However, when looking at percentage of empty homes compared to the total housing stock, provinces such as Ourense, Lugo, and Ávila top the list—often due to depopulation and ageing local populations.
What is the government doing?
To tackle the problem, the Spanish government is planning tax increases aimed at owners of vacant homes, second residences, and tourist apartments. One idea includes applying a 21% VAT to tourist rentals.
The goal is to discourage people from keeping homes empty and instead encourage them to rent or sell properties that are sitting unused.
But experts warn there’s no quick fix. Unless there’s significant investment in renovating these homes and building more in high-demand areas, Spain’s housing crisis is likely to continue.
For now, the country remains caught in a frustrating paradox: millions of properties are sitting empty, while millions of people struggle to find a place to live.
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