Will house prices continue to rise in 2026? This is the forecast made by ‘Idealista’

In 2026, housing prices will continue to rise and supply will continue to fallboth for sale and for rent, due, according to the real estate portal Idealisticto “legislative uncertainty” and to “lack of minimum agreements”which will make it “almost impossible” to approve or modify any law that improves housing accessibility.

With a predicted increase of more than 15% year-on-year in the price of housing for sale at the end of 2025, Idealistic describes the housing situation in Spain as a “national emergency” and encourages institutions not to undermine confidence in data and statistics – especially when these show the “ineffectiveness” of measures – and to adopt a new approach based on consensus, experts and, above all, decisions based on data.

According to the Idealista spokesperson, Francisco Iñaretathe disappearance of housing from the rental market is due to the “increasingly marked” imbalance between owners and tenants, caused by legislation that tends to “overprotect” tenants with a contract in force, but that “has excluded tenants who are looking for housing”.

Iñareta warns that in 2026 prices will soften in the areas where they have hitwhile they will continue to rise in those markets in which there has been no intervention, a situation that will cause supply to continue falling, affecting those looking for a home.

More than 50 interested parties compete for each ad that is published in Idealista and begin a ‘casting’ process every time they try to access a rental, with the selected family being the one that offers the most “payment security”, giving rise to a “fierce” competition for access to housing where the most affected are single-parent familieswith minors, with those over 65 years of age or people who must assume the rental with a single income.

Many profiles who, until the application of rent imbalance policies, had no problems accessing a lease, now find themselves “excluded” due to this process of “elitisation” of the rental marketwhich has resulted in large groups currently being “systematically rejected.”

The demand seeks used housing

On the other hand, in terms of housing sales, the weight of demand is based on used housing, which, according to the real estate portal, “it’s been a long time since it’s been enough to hold it“. They insist on ending “the criminalization of construction”, whose levels are, today, around 100,000 units per year, and propose the activation of mechanisms, such as the Land Law, which would accelerate the creation of new homes, or policies to attract and train workers that the construction sector needs.

The demand for home purchases is “very high”, But more and more families are withdrawing from the market due to the financing conditions, which require a volume of savings beyond the reach of many of them due to record prices that are surpassed month after month, with notable growth in cities such as Madrid and Valencia, while in Barcelona prices will grow to single digits at the end of the year, having alleviated the reduction in supply with homes from the rental market.

According to Idealista, these price increases far exceed family income, which causes the effort that must be made to buy a home is increasing, which in large markets already exceeds the limits recommended by all financial experts.