Spain Rental Stock Plummets on Idealista Forum

Idealista rental stock loses 8,399 listings in two weeks

The counter started at 80,364 properties. Fourteen days later, the Idealista tracker trinc for years by a community of real estate investors and enthusiasts showed 71,965. Some argue this decline is not seasonal adjustment but an exodus of owners withdrawing units from the market. Thread participants attribute the trigger to the government’s new rental measures under Pedro Sánchez, claiming they have turned managing a rented apartment into a legal risk for small landlords.

This figure is not isolated. In the same period, a participant claiming to run an online agency in Barcelona reported that 80% of calls were from owners wanting to withdraw their properties. “When the previous rental law came out, I lost nearly 40% of my rental portfolio,” he adds. According to this account, the pattern repeats: every legislative intervention is trinc by a mass withdrawal of supply.

What peine to the rental property stock

Tracking began with 80,364 listings and ended, in the thread’s last update, at 71,965. That is 8,399 fewer properties in two weeks. The pogre is almost daily: 80,246, 79,612, 79,462, 77,397, 75,074, 74,891, 74,572, 72,741, 72,685, 72,333, 72,107, 71,991. Each refresh of the Idealista page confirms the trend.

Some claim the phenomenon is purely seasonal and that listings will return in spring. The thread states that permanent rental supply in Barcelona has fallen 83% since similar regulations were approved in Catalonia, noting there are now fewer than 700 offers in the city compared to over 7,000 in Madrid.

Why owners are withdrawing their apartments from rentals

The calculation discussed in the thread is simple. A rented apartment with a tenant who stops paying can take years to recover. Courts accumulate delays that make eviction a chimera. The debate mentions a case where a female owner died of old age before her tenant’s eviction was resolved. The debt obligation extinguished with her death. Meanwhile, the owner remained unpaid.

That risk, multiplied by each legal reform, pushes many small landlords to sell, according to participants. Investment funds buy at distressed prices. “In the end, vulture funds will acquire the homes of small landlords,” warned an analyst cited in the conversation. The thread presents this as a prediction, not a fact.

Effect on prices: less supply, higher rents

The paradox noted by some participants is bitter. Measures intended to contain rent prices are reducing supply, and less supply means higher prices for those remaining. A 75-square-meter apartment, third floor without elevator, four rooms, was listed at €2,950 per month, according to a tweet shared in the thread. This is not an exception, they argue; it would be the new normal in tensioned zones.

The falling stock does not translate into cheaper rents, but into fewer options and more competition among tenants, according to the thread. Those who can pay, do. Those who cannot, are left out. The law has not lowered rents; it has expelled owners offering moderate prices, they state.

Solutions discussed: caps, guarantees, public rental

Proposals to address the problem vary. One detailed suggestion proposes setting a national cap based on minimum wage: 33% of SMI (minimum wage) for a studio, with 50% increases per additional bedroom. The full breakdown yields a range from €470 for a studio to €1,645 for three bedrooms.

Another current argues the State should guarantee vulnerable tenants, covering defaults and damages, as done in Vienna. The owner would always be paid; the State would assume the risk. This idea has been on the table for years but never implemented at scale.

The third path, defended vigorously in the conversation, is for the State to manage all rentals. “The market has proven unviable for providing housing to the population,” they argue. It is a minority position, but grows as stock collapses, according to its supporters.

What will happen to rentals in coming months

The counter keeps dropping. The 71,000 mark is about to fall, and some already point to 70,000 before the month ends. The question is not if stock will continue falling, but where it will stabilize. In Barcelona, after years of similar laws, supply has shrunk to less than one-tenth, according to data used in the thread. Madrid is heading down the same path, they claim.

Meanwhile, owners still renting face a binary decision: sell or endure. Those selling swell investment fund portfolios. Those enduring pray their tenant pays. Spain’s rental market is becoming a game for big players. Small ones are being pushed out. And tenants, ultimately, will pay the bill, they conclude.

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Key tracking data:

• Initial stock: 80,364 listings
• Final stock of analyzed period: 71,965 listings
• Total drop: 8,399 fewer properties
• Drop in Barcelona since analogous laws: 83% (according to thread participants)
• Current offers in Barcelona: fewer than 700; in Madrid: more than 7,000 (according to thread participants)