Canary Islands Lead Spain in Vacation Rentals
In May, the Canary Islands had the highest percentage of residential properties listed as vacation rentals in all of Spain—a staggering 4.7% of the islands’ total housing stock. This breaks down to 4.45% in Santa Cruz de Tenerife province and 4.9% in Las Palmas. Put simply, nearly five out of every 100 homes (which could otherwise be used for long-term or conventional rental) have been converted into tourist accommodations. This trend is a key factor behind the housing shortage and soaring prices in the Canaries, particularly for traditional rentals—a crisis exacerbated by the region having the lowest average net wages in Spain.
The Numbers Behind the Trend
That 4.7% translates to 50,686 properties, accommodating up to 214,160 people—roughly the population of Santa Cruz de Tenerife or nearly 10% of the Canary Islands’ residents—with an average of 4.23 guests per rental. The archipelago now leads Spain in the proportion of homes repurposed for tourism, more than doubling the third-place region, Andalusia (2.1%), and surpassing the Balearic Islands (3.74%). The Valencian Community (1.9%) and Catalonia (1.45%) follow, while Spain’s national average sits at just 1.43%—3.2 times lower than the Canary Islands’ figure.
A Slight Dip in Recent Data
According to the latest experimental statistics from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), the Canary Islands’ vacation rental share in May 2025 was 4.66%, a marginal 0.05-point drop from May 2024 (4.71%). This small decline reduced capacity from 217,074 to 214,160 guests. The post-pandemic tourism rebound in 2022 saw 3.7% of Canary Islands homes listed as vacation rentals, accommodating 165,391 people—nearly 50,000 fewer than today.
How the Data Is Collected
The INE’s experimental study aims to estimate the number and capacity of tourist accommodations nationwide, responding to growing demand for transparency in this sector. Using web scraping technology, data is extracted from Spain’s three largest vacation rental platforms. Properties are filtered based on regional regulations, and duplicates are removed via algorithm. The study is conducted twice yearly, with reference months in May and November. Since August 2023, the percentage of vacation rentals is calculated using 2021 census data, while earlier periods rely on older census figures.
