Madrid Apartment Listed at €1.055M: Bubble or New Normal?

When a 92-sqm apartment exceeds one million euros

How much does a 92-square-meter usable apartment cost today in Madrid? According to an ad that has shaken up economic discussions, exactly €1,055,000. The property, located on the ninth floor of an older building, antiestéticatures 115 square meters of built area, five rooms, and two bathrooms. It requires renovation. A complete overhaul, according to prudent estimates: an additional €200,000.

This figure has reignited the debate over whether Madrid has become a bubble or simply a market where supply and demand no longer align with residents' purchasing power. Because the price holds, some argue, due to a chronic housing shortage. The data is stark: six million new residents have arrived in less than ten years, while construction barely reaches 80,000 homes annually. At this pace, tension is inevitable.

Bubble or simple law of supply and demand?

Market advocates argue that the price is what it is because someone pays it. Foreign buyers with financial capacity, investors seeking safe havens, and ever-growing domestic demand sustain prices. In this view, no price is excessive: it is the pure intersection of supply and demand. Critics point out that it is an intervened market sustained by public money, where monetary inflation and lack of land do the rest. It is no coincidence that Goldman Sachs is mentioned as a beneficiary of this dynamic.

In contrast, skeptics recall that not long ago, a luxury penthouse or large mansion cost €600,000. Now that amount barely buys an old apartment in a neighborhood that isn't even Salamanca. The comparison with the 1990s is devastating: that apartment would have been paid in pesetas at a price that seems laughable today.

The calculation nobody wants to make

There is a circulating exercise that illustrates the absurdity: renting that apartment as bunk beds. With 55 spots at €350 per month, annual profitability would reach 21%. This says more about the bubble than any serious analysis. Because if the realistic option is turning housing into an improvised pension, something is failing in the model.

The conclusion, for now, is that Madrid has crossed a psychological threshold: one million euros for a non-luxury apartment. Defenders will continue saying it is the market. Critics say it is a textbook scam. Meanwhile, the ad remains, waiting for a buyer. And it doesn't seem like it will last long.