An individual bed, an night table, a chair, a shelf or a two -door closet and, hopefully, a small window that gives the street an inner courtyard or even a balcony. In any case, a sober space, without great concessions. To this, with access – normally – to the common areas of a home, it is the only thing to which millions of people in Spain can opt.
Not because the prices of these accommodations are affordable. Nothing is further from reality. The latest data that the Fotocasa Real Estate Portal yields are worrisome: the rent of a room in Spain rose 11.7% in 2024 and costs average 520 euros per month. These are rooms whose average surface is between 8 and 14 square meters, although it is easy to find ads of stays that are around five square meters. Being optimistic and taking as reference the highest value, 37 euros are being requested per month for each square meter.
This means that 97% if the last nine years are analyzed. The 520 euros figure is the highest since the portal has records (since 2015). “The tenants had never had to deal with a cost as high as now,” says María Matos, director of Studies and spokesman for Fotocasa, where there are 45,558 rooms for rent throughout Spain. It is through these portals and other specialized platforms, such as Badi, Unipas or Spotahome, where you can find shared floors, since traditional real estate agencies do not usually work this submarket. “Currently, we have more than 18,000 rooms for rent per month by joining all our business verticals,” says Carlos Pierre, CEO and co -founder of Badi, a platform that records a 32% increase in the number of rooms published in the last three years and a price increase of 28% compared to last year.
The pressure goes through zones. Four communities had a price above 500 euros per month in December 2024: Catalonia (636 euros), Madrid (586 euros), Balearic Islands (574 euros) and the Basque Country (573 euros), according to Fotocasa. On the other hand, the rent of a stay costs half in Castilla y León (300 euros), Castilla-La Mancha (265 euros) and Extremadura (242 euros).
In the Madrid capital there is a curious fact that it is not repeated with such intensity in the rest of the most tension cities. The most economical room rentals-there are from 120 euros-have a common denominator “bedroom in a room for a girl working as an intern to come to sleep from Friday to Sunday in the center of Madrid (Antón Martín-Lavapiés)”, says a Announcement published in Idealista. 200 euros are requested per month for four weekends. In Barcelona the most economical is a room for 270 euros, although with conditions. “I’m going to rent my room for two weeks while I’m on vacation.”
The rope is tense and is about to break. He has already done so in the traditional rental of full houses: the Bank of Spain has warned that almost 40% of homes for rent support overwhelming. At the moment, sharing housing is the only way to reduce this salary effort and comply with what is recommended by official bodies, which put the limit in 30%. “In the rental of rooms, 21% of the salary is allocated,” according to Matos. The data refers to 2023 (in 2019 it was 15%).
However, the lights are already in amber. “The increase in percentage [del salario] destined is significant in almost all communities, which seems to indicate that soon rent in a shared house will cease to be a viable option for citizens, ”says Matos.
Although prices have risen, the increase has not been more intense thanks to the fact that the offer of rooms has grown in the main Spanish cities, especially during 2023 and 2024. According to the idealistic portal, the offer increased 22% during the past Year and that placed the average price of the rooms announced on its website at 410 euros per month.
The transfer between markets explains this greater offer, according to both portals. And they blame it to pass them to the lease of rooms, to the tourist rental or the seasonal rental. Francisco Iñarta, an idealist spokesman, says that the available offer of complete floors is at minimum levels. Most of these contracts are used by homemade to try to dodge the Urban Lease Law (LAU) and the prices limit of the Housing Law, which is why the Government wants to regulate this market.
The other motivation of the owners is the search for greater economic income. The annual gross profitability on the purchase price of a shared house is 9%, compared to 6% of the traditional rental. “The performance remains the highest in the market, well above other financial products and with great stability and long -term projection. The difference between leasing a complete home and doing it in rooms gives 34% more profitability to the owner, ”explains Matos. And it puts an example: in Navarra the profitability of an 80 square meter house is 6.7%, compared to 10.3% if they are rented in rooms.
Young niche
The supply has grown, but the demand has made it much more. Young people are their main plaintiffs. According to the Youth Council of Spain, with an average of three or four people per household.
On the Badi platform, “the most common user is usually students, young professionals or digital nomads and people looking for a more flexible and accessible way to live in cities,” says Pierre. The ads and users published in this portal have to go through a verification system.
However, it is no longer just a form of flexibility or philosophy of life. The crisis of access to housing is so great that the lease of rooms is the last redoubt of many other groups. Even a study of Cáritas and ESade made public this week defines it as a typology of residential exclusion. The authors say that living in rooms has gone from being a transient alternative to being a permanent solution. “Sharing housing with people outside the family nucleus, living in a room with a very small space and having limitations generates a feeling of discomfort that prevents people from developing their lives… ends up having a negative impact on intimacy, on the quality of life and even in mental and emotional health, ”says Ignasi Martí, director of the ESADE decent housing observatory.
