Spain shows a substantial stock of vacant homes, with 3.83 million properties currently unoccupied. This figure accounts for 14.4% of the housing park, which totals more than 26.6 million homes. The data come from the most recent Population and Housing Census conducted in 2021 by the National Institute of Statistics. In practical terms, this means there are about 8.2 vacant houses for every 100 people. Since the previous census in 2011, the number of empty homes rose by roughly 400,000 units, representing an increase of more than 10% across the decade.
Additionally, there is discussion about approximately one million more houses that fall into a low-energy category and are occupied fewer than 15 days per year. This metric is used by public authorities to define whether a dwelling is considered vacant and part of the national stock.
Where is the vacancy most common? INE data show that empty residences concentrate in areas with low demand. About 45% of vacant homes are located in towns with fewer than 10,000 residents. By contrast, cities with more than 250,000 inhabitants hold the smallest share of vacancies, accounting for about 10.5% of the national total.
Which cities have the most and least vacant houses?
Among the municipalities, Tías in the Canary Islands stands out with the highest share of empty homes, where nearly half of the residential stock is unoccupied. Other towns with high vacancy include Mos and Pontevedra, followed by Monforte de Lemos, Lugo, Aller in Asturias, and Verín in Galicia, all reporting substantial vacancy rates around the upper 30s or higher. In contrast, Valle de Egüés in Navarre records the lowest vacancy rate at roughly 2.1%. Similar figures appear in Pallejà in Barcelona and in Majadahonda and Pinto in the Community of Madrid, each reporting vacancy rates around 2.4% to 2.7%.
On a regional level, Santa Cruz de Tenerife posts the highest vacancy percentage among larger cities, with over 200,000 residents and vacancies approaching 17.3% of the housing stock there. Other urban areas with higher-than-average vacancy include Vigo, A Coruña, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Cartagena, each reporting rates in the mid to low teens. The two largest agglomerations, Madrid and Barcelona, reveal unemployment figures below the national average of around 6.3% in the Madrid region and about 9.3% in the Barcelona area, accompanied by substantial populations: Madrid’s community surpasses 187,000 unemployed, while Barcelona’s province registers more than 213,000 unemployed, with the city itself hosting over 97,000 unemployed and the Catalan capital more than 75,000 within its municipality. These dynamics illustrate how vacancy is distributed against economic activity and population density across the country.