Rental Listings in Spain Fell 19% in a Month: What Tenants Should Do Now (2026)

Take two people in Girona. The first already has a contract that ends next spring. If the new rules stand, she can ask her landlord to extend it for up to two more years, and this year's rent update is limited. The second is moving to the city in January and starts looking now. He will find about a quarter fewer flats on idealista than a month ago. The decree protects the first, not the second.

Below are the figures by city, what the two decrees change, why the listings may have gone, what is different in Catalonia and on the Costa Brava, and what to do if you are looking for a flat right now.

The figures: how many rental listings disappeared

idealista compared the stock of active rental listings on its site on 25 September and on 25 October 2026. The count includes long-term and seasonal lets. It measures adverts on one portal, not the number of homes rented in Spain.

idealista notes that most cities with official rent caps saw some of the steepest falls, Tarragona being the exception. Ceuta was the only capital in idealista's list where the number of listings grew, and its rental market is very small. The portal also says it published these monthly figures as an exception, because of public interest, and that they will be confirmed with its figures for the fourth quarter, due in early 2027.

What the October decrees change

The Spanish government published two royal decree-laws in the official gazette (BOE) on 7 October 2026. A decree-law takes effect at once but lapses if Parliament does not validate it. Congress has been dissolved ahead of the general election on 29 November, so the vote on both falls to its Standing Committee (Diputación Permanente), which meets on Thursday 12 November 2026. Two earlier housing decrees were rejected by Congress on 2 October.

Royal Decree-law 29/2026, in force since 8 October. A tenant whose contract on their main home reaches the end of its compulsory term before 31 December 2028 can ask to extend it, a year at a time, for up to two more years, as long as they are up to date with the rent for the previous eight months. The landlord has to accept unless they need the home for themselves or close family, both sides agree other terms, or they sign a new contract with a rent at least 5% lower. Until 31 December 2027 there is no annual increase at all if the rent is above the official reference index; otherwise the two sides can agree a new rise, and without a new agreement it is capped at 2%. The decree also says that seasonal and room lets need a real, provable reason, or they count as an ordinary long-term let of a main home, and that adverts must show the reference index price and the previous rent.

Royal Decree-law 28/2026, from 15 November. After five years, or seven if the landlord is a company, a contract on a main home renews automatically for another five or seven years. The landlord's notice period goes from four to six months, and a landlord who does not renew pays the higher of 12 months' rent at the reference index or one month at that same reference index value for each year the tenant has lived there. The exceptions are the landlord's own need or their family's, a tenant who doesn't live in the home, and a tenant who has another suitable home in the same town.

If the Standing Committee rejects Decree-law 29/2026 on 12 November, the two-year extension and the 2% cap stop applying. If it rejects 28/2026, the automatic renewals never start. We will update this article after the vote. For what the same package means for owners of a second home, see our article on Spain's 2026 housing decree.

Why did the listings disappear?

idealista only says that the fall followed the decrees. It doesn't say what owners did with their homes, and no official source has measured it yet. Our reading is that several things are happening at once. Some owners take the flat off the portal and wait for the vote. Some put it up for sale instead. Some let it through people they know, without an advert. The president of FAI, a property industry association, told idealista that rental homes hit by the rent freeze are moving to the sales market, but that is an industry view, not data. Planning a ten-year let around a rule that may lapse after one vote is not easy.

Catalonia and the Costa Brava

Catalonia already applied rent caps in its declared stressed-market zones before October. On 19 October 2026 the Generalitat extended its stressed-market zone for another year in 118 of the 140 municipalities of its earlier declaration and added 53 new ones. Girona, Lloret de Mar, Blanes, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Palafrugell and Palamós stay in the zone, while the extension does not cover Banyoles and Figueres. Castell-Platja d'Aro, Calonge i Sant Antoni, Tossa de Mar, L'Escala, Torroella de Montgrí, Santa Cristina d'Aro, Cadaqués and Llançà are in it under the declaration of July 2024.

That may explain part of the Girona figures. The city of Girona lost 24% of its listings, close to Barcelona's 25%, but the province as a whole lost 13%, one of the smallest falls in Spain. idealista doesn't publish figures for individual Costa Brava towns, so we can't say how Lloret de Mar or Palafrugell did on their own.

Two different stories: tenants and people looking for a flat

If you already rent. While Decree-law 29/2026 stands, your annual rent update is limited until the end of 2027 and, if your contract ends before the end of 2028, you can ask to stay up to two more years. Pay your rent on time: the extension depends on it. Wait for the 12 November vote before you count on it.

If you are looking. In Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia you will see roughly a quarter fewer listings than in September. In the province of Girona the fall is smaller, but in the city of Girona it is almost as steep as in Barcelona.

Three rules if you are looking for a flat now

Start earlier. If your contract ends in spring, start looking now rather than in March. Set alerts on the portals and tell the agencies in the area what you need.

Have your documents ready. Passport or NIE, your last payslips or tax return, a work contract or proof of income, and references from your current landlord. If you can send everything the same day a flat appears, you are ahead of most people still gathering papers.

Don't wait for something better. If a flat fits your budget and your list, decide that day. Before you sign, check that the advert shows the reference index price and the previous rent, which the decree now requires.

If renting keeps getting harder and you plan to stay for years, buying may be worth a look, but not as a reaction to one month of figures. Our guide on whether to rent or buy before moving to the Costa Brava covers when each makes sense, and our purchase tax calculator shows what buying costs on top of the price.

Author: @katy.bon.estate, property consultant on the Costa Brava

Sources: idealista, "La oferta de alquiler se hunde tras la aprobación de los RD" (5 November 2026); BOE no. 249 of 7 October 2026, Real Decreto-ley 28/2026 and Real Decreto-ley 29/2026; Congreso de los Diputados, order of business of the Diputación Permanente for 12 November 2026; Generalitat de Catalunya, resolutions TER/3739/2026 and TER/3740/2026 (DOGC 9775, 19 October 2026) and TER/2408/2024 on stressed residential market zones; idealista/news, comments by the president of FAI (29 October 2026). Information as of 8 November 2026; check your own contract with a lawyer in Spain.