How does 2026 verify the rental market in Spain?

We are looking at Spain's tourism market at a moment of historic overstimulation. The data summarizing the last two years leave no illusions: the hotel-based tourism model has gone by the wayside. In key regions, private apartments (VUTs) have not only caught up with, but even crushed the hotel competition in numbers. However, this success has become their curse - the drastic disparity has forced the authorities to introduce restrictions, of which Valencia's Aldaia has become a symbol.

Numbers that shake up the market (As of 2024/2025)

To understand the current situation in 2026, we need to look at the hard data that catalyzed the legislative changes. "The Great Sorpasso" (overshoot) has taken place on an unprecedented scale.

1. Málaga and Costa del Sol: Absolute domination

It is here that the disparity has reached a critical level.

• City of Malaga: For every one hotel bed, there are already nearly three places in apartments. We're talking about a massive fleet of some 35,800 seats in VUT units versus just 13,600 in hotels.
• Province: Across the Costa del Sol, apartments have carved out for themselves as much as 64% of the total lodging pie. Hotels, with a 15-16% share, were relegated to the premium and business niche.

2 Valencia and the Levantine Coast: Jump in growth

The regional capital has become a testing ground for mass urban tourism.

• City of Valencia: The number of beds in apartments has topped 33,000, while hotels offer about 20,200 beds.
• Dynamics: This is where the most aggressive growth has been recorded - in 2024 alone, the supply of apartments jumped more than 30% year-on-year, directly leading to decision paralysis and subsequent moratoriums on new licenses.

3 Alicante:

Here, too, the hotel market has given way to the private market. Alicante has maintained a leadership position in turning "second homes" into investment products, making hotel offerings a mere adjunct to the powerful short-term rental market.

"Lex Aldaia" - New Legal Reality 2026

The sharp increase in the number of beds in the private sector (by an average of 17.5% per year nationally during the boom period) had to be met with a reaction. Local authorities stopped tolerating the "tourism" of housing developments.

The town of Aldaia (Valencia province) became the model for the new regulations, which take effect in 2026. The regulations introduced there, which quickly found imitators, drastically changed the rules of the game:

• Building exclusivity rule: Tourist rentals have been limited only to entire buildings (edificios completos) designated for this purpose or first floors with independent entrance.
• Protection of residents: Total ban on VUT activities in individual apartments in blocks of apartments with permanent tenants.
• Zoning: Designating strict zones where tourism is allowed, while banning it in bedroom neighborhoods.

Forecast & Market: What awaits us in 2026?

We enter this year with a market divided into two speeds.

• The era of the amateur is over: Data from Málaga and Valencia show the power of the market, but a new law (Aldaia model) puts the small investor with one apartment out of business.

In 2026, tourist licenses become a luxury good, available mainly to funds buying up entire tenements.

• Price renegotiations: Due to the restriction of supply in city centers (expiration of old licenses), lodging prices in 2026 may go up. Paradoxically, the restrictions benefit the most.... hotels, which have regained some customers looking for reliable and legal accommodation.
• Escaping into medium-term rentals: Thousands of apartments that appeared as VUTs in 2024/25 statistics are today disappearing from portals like Airbnb and moving into the seasonal rental market (1-11 months), escaping restrictive tourism laws.

The year 2026 will verify the great boom. Although apartments still dominate hotels numerically (35,000 vs. 13,000 in Malaga), the golden era of free investment is over. The market is maturing, professionalizing and, most importantly, ceasing to be "free American" at the expense of residents