More than 20,000 homes for sale in Spain are occupied by squatters: these are the worst-affected areas

In some regional capitals, the figure is close to 10% of the total number of houses on the market

Antonio Ramírez Cerezo

Madrid

Sunday, 23 March 2025, 08:46

Spain is a country with a large population, a saturated housing market and many illegal occupiers of properties. According to an analysis by real estate portal Idealista, 2.6% of the homes sold in Spain (20,464) have squatters in them. The phenomenon is becoming a more common issue.

Idealista spokesperson Francisco Iñareta said: "The data highlights the relevance of this phenomenon, which is a burden for the recovery of supply." He stated that there is a tendency to minimise the reality of squatting, resulting in a feeling of lack of protection for owners and promotion of the disappearance of more homes from the rental market.

In Gerona, for example, 8.8% of houses on the market are occupied by squatters, followed by Murcia (5.5%), Seville (4.7%), Almeria (3.9%) and Malaga (3.8%).

Then come Barcelona and Santa Cruz de Tenerife with 3.5%, while in Lérida and Valencia the figure is 3.4%. Also above the national average are Huelva (3.3%), Palma (2.9%), Tarragona (2.8%) and Las Palmas and Gran Canaria (2.7%).

Below the national average are Madrid (2.3%), Alicante (2.1%), San Sebastian (1.3%) and Bilbao (1%).

Among the regional capital cities with the lowest proportion of squatters in homes for sale is Logroño (0.2%), followed by Salamanca, Ourense, Guadalajara, Cáceres, Palencia and Ciudad Real, which share 0.4% .

By province, Barcelona is the one that takes the lead, with 6,778 homes for sale that suffer from the squatting phenomenon, 7.6% of the total. It is followed by the provinces of Toledo (4.1%), Murcia (4%), Gerona (3.8%) and Seville (3.7%). Also with a rate above the national average are the provinces of Tarragona (3.4%), Lleida (3.1%), Las Palmas (2.8%), Almeria (2.7%) and Huelva (2.7%). Madrid is at the same national average (2.6%).

Soria, on the other hand, is the province with the lowest incidence, at only 0.1%, followed by Ourense (0.3%), La Rioja and Palencia (0.4% in both cases).

Absolute numbers of squatted dwellings for sale in each market

Looking at absolute numbers, Barcelona leads the ranking with 723 squatted homes for sale during the fourth quarter of 2024, followed by Madrid with 644 homes in the same period. Murcia (390) is in third place, followed by Malaga (286 homes), Seville (272 homes), Valencia (243 homes), Palma (213 homes) and Alicante (176 homes). These eight regional capital cities alone account for 71% of all squatted homes for sale.

Of the major markets, only two cities are out of this ranking: Bilbao, where there were only 36 squats for sale in the last quarter of 2024, and San Sebastian, where this figure stands at 22 squatted properties.

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