Idealista’s Q4 2025 report reveals Palma as Spain’s most expensive city to buy, with home costs eating up 46% of income—explore the implications for the market.
Idealista Q4 2025: Palma is Spain’s priciest city to buy a home—purchase costs 46% of average income. Nationwide rent consumes 38% vs 28% to buy; experts warn.
Palma de Mallorca has overtaken other Spanish cities as the most expensive place to buy a home, according to a fourth-quarter 2025 study by real estate portal Idealista. The report finds that buying a property in Palma requires roughly 46% of the average household’s net income — the highest ratio among provincial capitals.
Renting remains a heavy burden across Spain. Idealista calculates that paying rent for a two-bedroom home consumes 38% of the average household’s net income nationally, well above the 30% threshold recommended by economic experts. By contrast, the study says buying a home via mortgage currently requires about 28% of average net income at the national level.
City and regional highlights
• Palma: 46% of average income to buy; renting a two-bedroom takes about 43% of income, placing Palma among the cities where buying and renting demand similar household effort.
• Barcelona: Ranks among the most expensive cities to rent, with rental effort notably high (around the mid-40s percentage range).
• San Sebastián: Noted by Idealista as another city where rent and purchase effort are closely aligned.
• Cities below the 30% rent-recommendation threshold include Alicante (28%), Valencia (27%), Granada (26%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (25%), Cádiz (25%), and A Coruña (25%). Pamplona, Pontevedra and Vitoria each require about 24%, while Jaén, Lleida and Melilla show the lowest burden at 13%. Zamora, Palencia and Huesca are at 14%.Province and community picture
• Buying: The Balearic Islands and Málaga are the most expensive provinces to buy a home, each requiring roughly 46% of average household income. Santa Cruz de Tenerife (36%), Alicante (31%) and the Community of Madrid (27%) follow.
• Renting: At the autonomous-community level, Málaga leads rental pressure (about 52% of income), followed by the Balearic Islands (46%) and Catalonia/Barcelona (around 42%).Methodology and context
Idealista calculated the “effort rate” as the share of average net household income spent annually on rent for a two-bedroom home, using its own rental price data combined with income figures from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE). The portal and experts point to a tight supply of available housing as the main driver behind rising prices and the growing share of income devoted to housing.
What this means
With rents and purchase costs consuming a larger slice of household budgets in key cities and provinces, many families face affordability pressures. Economic advisers typically recommend spending no more than 30% of income on rent — a benchmark exceeded in many urban areas, especially in Palma, Málaga and Barcelona. The study underscores continued affordability challenges in Spain’s housing market going into 2026.
