Soaring Rental Costs Push Spaniards Toward Shared Housing

3.2% of Spaniards have rented or looked to rent a room in a shared flat, up from 2.8% a year ago, according to Fotocasa Research’s report Profile of people who share housing, based on first-half 2026 data. The findings indicate that shared accommodation is becoming an increasingly common alternative in the rental market.

Fotocasa attributes this to financial pressure rather than personal preference. “Tenants are not looking to share a flat because it is their first choice, but because the market forces them to adjust their expectations to what they can afford,” explains María Matos, head of Research and spokesperson for the platform. “Renting a room has become the plan B for those who cannot secure a conventional tenancy.”

Two searches that overlap

The study identifies an overlap between the two markets, but only in one direction. Among those who have rented or looked for a room, 34% have also searched for or rented a whole property in the past 12 months: one in three is aiming for something bigger. In the opposite direction, just 11% of people who have searched for or rented an entire flat have also considered a room.

Renting entire homes has remained practically stable, with around 10% of the active population in this segment. Taking both markets together, demand for rental housing now reaches 12% of the population, almost half a percentage point more than in 2025, a rise that Fotocasa describes as moderate.

Matos sees those numbers as part of a wider trend: the pressure on renting, she says, “is spreading across the entire market.” More and more people need to rent and, “given the lack of supply and prices that are still very high,” they are abandoning what they were originally hoping to find.

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