MADRID, 22 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The price of rental housing in Spain closed 2023 with an annual increase of 5.7%, reaching 11.66 euros per square meter per month in December, according to data from Fotocasa, which indicates that 2023 was the second increase highest rent since 2019 and the ninth recorded in the 17 years that this statistic has been compiled.

“The rental market is going through one of its most complicated moments. Although the annual increase is below 6% and is no longer growing at double digits as we saw during the first half of 2023, the increase is still very significant,” said the company. Director of Studies at Fotocasa, María Matos.

This increase is explained, in his opinion, by the “considerable imbalance” between supply and demand, since “never” has the rental supply been so reduced as it is today.

“The rental stock is at a minimum, which represents a great obstacle for almost 40% of tenants. The year closes with a strong tension in prices, which have even surpassed the mark registered during the 2007 bubble. and leaving a new maximum,” adds Matos.

According to its forecasts, the price will continue to rise in the next year, “since the measures included in the Housing Law are not managing to balance the price of rentals, but have caused uncertainty, discontent and the opposition of the real estate sector “.

At the end of 2023, eight communities raised rental prices at double-digit rates, three more than they did in 2022.

The largest increases are located in the Balearic Islands (19.4%) and the Valencian Community (14.6%), followed by the Canary Islands (13.6%), Cantabria (13.5%), Madrid (12.7%), Asturias (11.8%), the Basque Country (11.4%) and Castilla y León (10.4%).

Below double digits are the increases in rental prices in Andalusia (9.5%), Galicia (8.4%), Catalonia (6.9%), Castilla-La Mancha (6.3%), Navarra (6.1%), Murcia (4.6%), Extremadura and Aragón (4.3% in both cases) and La Rioja (3.7%).

According to Fotocasa, in general, prices in absolute values ​​increase in most regions. Madrid continued to lead rental prices in 2023, with 17.38 euros per square meter per month, followed by the Balearic Islands, with 16.90 euros, a region that moves Catalonia to third position.

In fact, it is the first year in the entire historical series of this Fotocasa statistic in which Catalonia, with 15.95 euros per square meter per month, leaves one of the first two places and takes third place in the ranking. of the most expensive communities.

By provinces, almost all of them raised the annual prices of rental housing in 2023, with 23 of them presenting double-digit increases.

According to Fotocasa, five provinces raised rental prices by more than 15% last year: Balearic Islands (19.4%), Valencia (18.1%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (16.9%), Huesca (16. 5%) and Toledo (16.3%). The only province that experienced an annual decrease in rental prices was Cuenca, with a decline of 5.8%.

In absolute values, the highest prices for rental housing were in Barcelona (17.76 euros/m2 per month), Guipúzcoa (17.72 euros/m2 per month), Madrid (17.38 euros/m2 per month ), Balearic Islands (16.90 euros/m2 per month), Vizcaya (14.78 euros/m2 per month), Malaga (13.92 euros/m2 per month), Valencia (12.92 euros/m2 per month), Las Palmas (12.91 euros/m2 per month) and Girona (12.74 euros/m2 per month).