Spain housing prices: €260,000 for new 47m² units

The Torremolinos studio that jumped from €60,000 to €90,000 in two years

A studio in Torremolinos listed at €60,000 in January 2023 sold for €90,000 by January 2025. A new-build property of 47 square meters in Getafe is offered at €260,000 plus taxes. In central Zaragoza, advertised homes for sale have dropped from over 4,000 to 2,187. With these three examples on the table, Spanish housing prices return to the classic question: is there still room to grow, or will this bubble finally burst?

The dominant answer among daily market watchers is uncomfortable: as long as someone pays, prices won't drop.

How much does an apartment cost in high-demand areas?

The cases discussed are not luxury properties. An apartment of 104 square meters in a working-class neighborhood is listed for €600,000. The Getafe development, with 47 usable square meters at €260,000 plus taxes, equates to roughly €6,000 per square meter. And in Alhaurín de la Torre, Málaga, a semi-detached house closed at €355,000 net for the seller: the buyer pays around €380,000 including renovations, totaling about €400,000, and adding mortgage interest brings the bill to €550,000.

Here lies the detail that breaks the narrative of moderation. The buyer isn't just purchasing a home; they are signing a lifetime mortgage for a property that once could be paid off in fifteen years. According to the seller's account, the deal closed in less than twenty-four hours with barely any negotiation.

Supply evaporates before prices do

In central Zaragoza, available stock has plummeted: from over 4,000 properties two or three years ago to 2,315 three weeks ago and 2,187 in the latest count. At this pace, the recurring diagnosis is that only unsellable inventory, second-hand homes trickling out slowly, and prohibitively priced new builds will remain.

Analysis splits here. Some view this scarcity as the strongest argument for prices holding firm: lower supply, same demand, continued upward pressure. Others see the opposite: a market drying up from the top, with sellers withdrawing listings rather than lowering prices.

Who is buying at these prices?

This is the question running through the entire conversation, one no one can answer with certainty. The Alhaurín case involved a young couple in their thirties with their own business who could sign immediately. Beyond that profile, hypotheses accumulate: investment funds and companies buying for yield, foreign capital landing on the coast, Madrid, and Barcelona, and a segment of local buyers switching homes while leveraging another property.

Short-term tourist rentals continue to hover over the debate, albeit with nuances. In the Balearic Islands, the minimum contract term has been set at one month, and daily rentals require a tourist license—a restriction that hasn't emptied the market: monthly rentals for remote workers remain.

More inhabitants, fewer people per household: the demographic argument

Spain has surpassed 49 million inhabitants for the first time, with forecasts pointing to 50 million by the end of 2026 and a range of 53 to 55 million within fifteen to twenty years. Meanwhile, household size is shrinking: from 2.5 people per dwelling to fewer than two.

The opposing view also has numbers. The country is aging, mortality rates will free up housing, and in two decades there may be more homes than buyers. The problem, even those supporting this thesis admit, is timing: fifteen or twenty years is a long time to rent.

The analysis stalls exactly there. Stock is sinking, prices aren't yielding, interest rates are financing purchases, and no one identifies the specific buyer paying €600,000 for 104 square meters in a working-class neighborhood. Some wait for the crash. Others simply wait until they have the money.