New regulations governing holiday rentals in Spain. Who can sleep soundly? [LEGAL ANALYSIS]
A change in the regulations governing short-term (so-called holiday) rentals in Spain is resulting in the removal of thousands of listings without a tourist…
Limited availability of short-term rental properties, but at the same time – rising rental prices and a higher average ‘spending basket’ per tourist. Read on to find out how the property market in Spain, including Andalusia, has changed just over a year after the new regulations came into force.
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Spain is cracking down on short-term rentals
In April 2025, new legislation came into force in Spain concerning the registration of properties for short-term lets. It was intended to help address the issue of limited housing availability for the local community. The regulation, which concerns the collection and sharing of data relating to short-term residential lettings, requires owners, amongst other things, to register their properties and obtain an identification number. This number is entered into the register and must be included in rental listings.
The entry into force of the new regulations led to the removal of over 65,000 short-term rental listings from platforms such as Airbnb and Booking within the first few months of the regulations coming into force. Furthermore, according to data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics, the number of properties available for short-term let in 2025 fell by 12 per cent.
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Spain the favourite destination of Poles. We are not only breaking tourist records
Spain has become one of the favourite destinations of Polish tourists. A record 2.44 million Poles will visit the country in 2024, an increase…
Foreign tourists in Spain: another record
According to figures from Poland’s Central Statistical Office, 21.4 million foreign tourists visited Poland in 2025. However, this figure is almost half that of the number of tourists who visited Spain in the first seven months of 2025 alone. According to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE), over 55.5 million foreign tourists visited Spain during that period. In turn, in the first quarter of 2026, there were already over 17.5 million, representing a 2.5 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2025.
As a result, tourist numbers in Spain remain at a very high level, and are even exceeding the figures from previous years. The Polish Economic Institute compared several countries, including Poland and Spain, in terms of the number of bookings made in 2025 via online platforms. According to the study, Spain ranked 7th in terms of the number of bookings made, whilst Poland came in only 14th.
Andalusia is among the top three tourist regions in Spain
Data from the Polish Economic Institute show that the Canary Islands are the region in Spain most frequently visited by foreign tourists, recording 4.5 million visits in the first quarter of 2026. Compared with the first quarter of 2025, this represents an increase of 2.8 per cent.
Catalonia came second, attracting 3.5 million tourists, although visitor numbers fell by 2.6% compared with last year. Andalusia came second, having gained significantly in importance in the tourism sector over the past year, recording a 5.9% increase compared with the first quarter of 2025.
These figures confirm the growing importance of, amongst others, the Costa del Sol on the international tourism map. Spain is not only attracting an ever-increasing number of visitors, but, above all, is generating ever-higher revenues. Spending by foreign tourists grew more than twice as fast as the number of arrivals, reaching 25 billion euros, which represents an increase of 6.3% compared with 2025.
FAQ
Which countries do tourists come from that generate the most revenue for Spain?
INE data show that tourists from the United Kingdom account for the largest share of tourist spending – they account for 14.7% of total expenditure. In second place are tourists from Germany, who account for 12% of expenditure by all foreign visitors. The Nordic countries come third, with a share of 7.7%.
Why is the Spanish property market becoming increasingly popular amongst overseas buyers?
The Costa del Sol is one of the regions in Europe furthest removed from the conflicts raging in the eastern part of the continent, which is fuelling the area’s growing popularity amongst property buyers from Europe and beyond.
The Wealth Report 2026 unequivocally identifies Marbella as the leader in the European property market in terms of safety and the luxury nature of the destination. Forecasts also suggest that 2026 as a whole may see even better property sales figures than those recorded in the first quarter.
