Room rentals rise in Spain as high flat prices drive demand
3.2% of Spaniards have rented or looked for a room, up from 2.8% a year ago. Fotocasa says rising prices and scarce supply are pushing tenants to share homes as an alternative to traditional lets.
Published on 21/09/2026 - 22:18 GMT+2
3.2% of Spaniards have rented or tried to rent a room in a shared flat, up from 2.8% a year ago. This is the key finding of the report Profile of people who share homes, produced by Fotocasa Research with data from the first half of 2026, which shows that this option is becoming an increasingly common alternative in the rental market.
Fotocasa puts it down to a lack of financial leeway rather than preference. "Tenants are not looking to share a flat because it is their first choice, but because the market forces them to adjust their expectations to what they can afford", explains María Matos, head of research and spokesperson for the portal. "Renting a room has become the plan B for those who cannot get access to a conventional rental".
Two overlapping searches
The study identifies an overlap between the two markets, but only in one direction. Among those who have rented or tried to rent a room, 34% have also searched for or rented a whole property in the last 12 months: one in three is aiming for something bigger. In the opposite direction, only 11% of those who have searched for or rented an entire flat have also considered a room.
Renting whole homes, meanwhile, remains virtually stable, with around 10% of the working-age population in this segment. Taking both markets together, demand for rental housing reaches 12% of the population, almost half a percentage point more than in 2025, a rise Fotocasa describes as moderate.
Matos sees in these figures a broader symptom: pressure on rents, she says, "is spreading across the whole market". More and more people need to rent and, 'with so little supply and prices still very high', they give up on what they were initially looking for.
