Spanish landlords prefer empty homes over rents under €900

€900 or empty: the new landlord logic in Spain

A two-bedroom apartment in a rough area, rented for years to two siblings for €500. When tenants leave, the owner lists it at €900. According to one account, the agency charges another €900 for management, which the landlord refuses to pay out of pocket. The landlord’s response when warned about vacancy is an axiom said to be repeated: “Rent it at €900 or leave it empty.”

This is not an isolated case. In neighborhoods like La Chana, apartments recently sold for under €35,000 and rented between €300 and €400 to pensioners are now listed above €600. Another owner raised the rent to €700 with the same ultimatum: that price or nothing. The old habit of lowering rent in September if no tenant was found has died, according to the debate. Now owners prefer bearing the cost of vacancy rather than reducing their demands.

Why landlords prefer empty properties

The recurring argument is legal insecurity. Renting below market value, far from ensuring occupancy, is interpreted as a sign of weakness. “If you list an apartment below market price, tenants will take you for a fool,” summarizes one participant. The antiestéticar is not just non-payment, but getting trapped in a contract with low rent that cannot be updated at the pace of inflation, capped by the 3% annual limit.

Added to this is the profitability calculation. A €500,000 apartment rented for €800 monthly offers a gross yield of 2%, from which IBI (property tax), community fees, taxes, and renovations must be deducted. Net profitability, according to circulating calculations, rarely exceeds 3.5%. With these margins, many conclude it does not compensate to assume the risk of a problematic tenant.

The proposed alternative is rent guarantee insurance. But it only covers solvent tenants. For a salaried worker with unattachable minimum wage income, the policy is a chimera. Therefore, insurance does not solve the underlying problem: the lack of guarantees to recover the property if the tenant stops paying.

Squatting and the ghost of the non-paying tenant

The conversation shifts to squatting (“okupación”). “Private property is not respected; they squat your home and you’re stuck,” says an owner who claims to have zero properties in Spain. The perception that laws protect defaulters rather than landlords is central. It is argued that without minimal legal security, the market is broken, and the only way to offset risk is raising prices or not renting.

Some go further, claiming the situation is deliberate. “They want people poor, desperate, and dependent on the State,” asserts another speaker. The thesis that private renting is being discouraged to force public intervention runs through several messages. Others defend expropriation or public housing as the solution, though warning that without private investment, the rental stock would drastically shrink.

Housing prices in Granada: not even €500

The phenomenon is not limited to city centers. In peripheral areas like Santa Fe or Atarfe, €600 is demanded for apartments that until recently were almost given away. “There is absolutely nothing below €500 or €600 when the average salary is a starving dead-end barely earning the SMI (minimum wage),” laments one voice. Demographic pressure and scarce supply push prices up even in areas nobody wanted before.

Paradoxically, some are buying to rent in those same zones, relying on rent guarantee insurance. The contradiction is evident: if insurance only covers solvent tenants, how can landlords find renters meeting requirements in low-income neighborhoods? The suggested answer is that more workers are forced to move to the periphery because they cannot afford the center.

The calculation that disorients

With these elements, the landlord’s decision is rational within their logic. If renting at €900 leaves €600 net after taxes and the risk of non-payment is high, the opportunity cost of vacancy decreases. The hovering conclusion is uncomfortable: the rental market is tightening from above, with prices expelling tenants, and from below, with owners preferring not to lease. The result is less supply and higher prices. A vicious cycle.