Idealista
Spain's leading property portal; publishes widely cited quarterly rental and sale price indices.
Idealista's June 2026 index recorded a national record rent of €15.3 per square metre, up 4.2% year-on-year, as Madrid's growth decelerated to 7.6% from April's 17.9% peak and Barcelona rents fell 3.9%, the first decline of the cycle.
Last refreshed: 28 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why does Idealista's rent index matter more than official government data?
Timeline for Idealista
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Idealista is Spain's largest residential and commercial property platform, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Madrid. It operates in Spain, Italy and Portugal, listing properties for sale and rent across all regions.
Its quarterly and monthly rental price indices are the principal market benchmark cited by Spanish government bodies, academic researchers and financial journalists tracking housing costs, generally reaching publication ahead of official INE data releases. The index tracks asking rents rather than transacted rents, meaning it leads rather than lags actual market conditions, a methodological distinction that makes it more sensitive to short-term shifts in landlord behaviour than lagging government statistics.
Madrid's rent growth cools from its peak
Idealista's Madrid rent index rose 17.9% year-on-year to €21.30 per square metre in April 2026, the steepest rise among Spanish provincial capitals, in the same month parliament killed the rental price-freeze extension. Growth decelerated over the following two months: Madrid's June figure eased to €23.7 per square metre, up 7.6% year-on-year, while Idealista's June national index hit a record €15.3 per square metre, up 4.2%, and Barcelona rents fell 3.9%, the first outright decline among major provincial capitals in the cycle.
Those June figures fed directly into Spain's stalled housing-decree debate, after Podemos's Ione Belarra rejected the landlord tax break Junts wanted in exchange for its vote, pushing the decree to end-August.