How much housing sits empty
Three state figures about one town, published separately and therefore rarely seen together: how much housing is not a main home, how much stands empty by the meter, and how much is let to visitors. 7,187,419 dwellings across 131 coastal municipalities.
What “empty” means here
The census counts a dwelling as empty when it has no electricity contract, or an annual consumption below what an average home in the same municipality uses in fifteen days. This is a meter reading, not a survey of residents.
It does not follow that such a home is available to rent. It may be shut up, split between heirs, or unfit to live in. A house its owner visits each summer is not counted as empty — the census gives it a line of its own, and that line is in the table too.
The table
From the largest share of non-main housing to the smallest. Each figure covers a whole municipality.
| Place | Dwellings | Not a main home | Empty | Occasional use | Tourist flats | Income per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peñíscola | 18,226 | 81% | 20.3% | 5,773 | 9.77% | €13,038 |
| Guardamar del Segura | 25,514 | 73.3% | 21.4% | 5,922 | 1.08% | €12,161 |
| Laredo | 15,993 | 70.3% | 13.7% | 5,031 | 0.94% | €14,453 |
| San Javier | 41,372 | 70.1% | 16.1% | 9,697 | 2.27% | €12,495 |
| Torrevieja | 122,736 | 70% | 24.9% | 23,513 | 3.17% | €9,868 |
| Los Alcázares | 21,714 | 69.2% | 15.4% | 4,928 | 2.27% | €10,704 |
| Roses | 24,743 | 68.2% | 29.1% | 4,297 | 10.24% | €13,152 |
| Vera | 20,964 | 67.9% | 24.7% | 4,158 | 5.59% | €11,330 |
| Cullera | 29,168 | 67.9% | 13.7% | 7,351 | 2.59% | €12,929 |
| Santa Pola | 45,155 | 67.4% | 16.9% | 9,501 | 3.43% | €12,366 |
| Mojácar | 9,663 | 65.1% | 25.1% | 1,513 | 10.69% | €12,603 |
| Orihuela Costa | 88,508 | 64.1% | 27.4% | 12,360 | 2.36% | €11,512 |
| Almuñécar | 29,769 | 63.2% | 15.1% | 6,330 | 5.08% | €11,350 |
| Salou | 31,523 | 63.1% | 22.9% | 6,548 | 7.41% | €14,097 |
| Benicàssim | 21,025 | 63% | 8.7% | 4,727 | 2.04% | €19,526 |
| Sanxenxo | 17,787 | 63% | 28.7% | 2,913 | 7.79% | €13,605 |
| Llanes | 16,223 | 62.5% | 19.1% | 3,380 | 6.2% | €13,896 |
| Punta Umbría | 17,421 | 62.5% | 12.9% | 4,532 | 0.98% | €12,906 |
| Calpe / Calp | 26,156 | 62.4% | 18.3% | 4,392 | 11.25% | €11,768 |
| Moraira | 12,771 | 61.2% | 21.3% | 980 | 9.18% | €12,083 |
| Dénia | 45,237 | 61% | 12.1% | 7,210 | 6.47% | €12,954 |
| Manilva | 17,998 | 60.3% | 27.4% | 2,450 | 6.92% | €12,411 |
| Torrox | 20,132 | 58.5% | 19.7% | 4,191 | 6.26% | €10,740 |
| Mazarrón | 31,537 | 57.9% | 15.3% | 6,044 | 1.57% | €10,468 |
| Isla Cristina | 18,623 | 57.6% | 9.4% | 4,808 | 1.71% | €10,238 |
| Salobreña | 11,610 | 56.4% | 16.6% | 2,372 | 3.56% | €11,615 |
| Jávea / Xàbia | 26,819 | 55.9% | 14.9% | 2,888 | 8.97% | €12,533 |
| San Pedro del Pinatar | 21,460 | 55.7% | 13.4% | 4,149 | 2.03% | €10,792 |
| Cambrils | 31,733 | 55.4% | 16.3% | 6,043 | 3.91% | €15,716 |
| Tías | 17,243 | 54.3% | 48.1% | 1,008 | 14.23% | €13,735 |
| El Campello | 26,801 | 54.2% | 12% | 4,407 | 4.03% | €14,584 |
| Pollença | 13,772 | 53.1% | 21.7% | 1,103 | 17.02% | €16,662 |
| Ayamonte | 17,738 | 52.3% | 19.7% | 3,323 | 5.58% | €11,357 |
| Mogán | 16,894 | 51.9% | 34% | 1,951 | 12.52% | €12,113 |
| Fisterra | 3,802 | 51.2% | 39.3% | 351 | 7.81% | €11,826 |
| Benidorm | 60,479 | 51.1% | 14.5% | 10,292 | 4.24% | €12,263 |
| Camariñas | 4,299 | 49.9% | 33% | 459 | 3.84% | €11,871 |
| Nerja | 16,621 | 49.2% | 13.7% | 2,044 | 16.43% | €11,896 |
| Altea | 18,309 | 49.2% | 12.4% | 2,080 | 5.47% | €12,822 |
| Águilas | 26,137 | 49% | 13.3% | 3,881 | 1.63% | €11,511 |
| Viveiro | 12,466 | 48.9% | 34.7% | 986 | 2.59% | €14,698 |
| Tarifa | 13,599 | 48.3% | 14.2% | 2,336 | 13.87% | €13,049 |
| Conil de la Frontera | 16,919 | 48% | 6% | 2,680 | 15.22% | €11,884 |
| Garrucha | 7,060 | 47.1% | 16.1% | 1,149 | 1.97% | €10,372 |
| Ribadeo | 7,986 | 46.5% | 21.8% | 1,040 | 2% | €14,772 |
| Mijas | 62,030 | 45.8% | 21.1% | 5,485 | 7.2% | €11,823 |
| Alaior | 6,968 | 45.5% | 25.3% | 615 | 8.52% | €15,717 |
| Estepona | 50,366 | 44.9% | 20.5% | 4,379 | 6.68% | €12,741 |
| Gandía | 54,541 | 44.4% | 17.5% | 8,306 | 2.42% | €12,511 |
| Castro Urdiales | 24,994 | 44.4% | 7.7% | 4,754 | 0.72% | €15,554 |
| Vinaròs | 20,887 | 43.8% | 10.5% | 2,945 | 2.65% | €13,117 |
| Marbella | 100,282 | 43.7% | 20.2% | 7,697 | 6.97% | €13,384 |
| Cee | 5,312 | 42.7% | 31.9% | 400 | 2.26% | €13,166 |
| Roquetas de Mar | 62,150 | 40% | 16.7% | 7,159 | 1.67% | €11,452 |
| Lloret de Mar | 25,496 | 40% | 15.5% | 3,240 | 6.72% | €12,707 |
| San Roque | 19,625 | 39.4% | 23% | 1,326 | 2.51% | €13,663 |
| Benalmádena | 48,663 | 39.1% | 17.1% | 4,792 | 7.26% | €13,418 |
| Sada | 11,150 | 38.7% | 21.6% | 1,088 | 0.48% | €15,021 |
| Cartagena | 125,253 | 38.3% | 13.3% | 13,465 | 1.04% | €13,126 |
| Formentera | 6,969 | 38.3% | 37.8% | 608 | 12.04% | €18,860 |
| Yaiza | 10,360 | 37.9% | 30.6% | 503 | 21.65% | €13,379 |
| Alcúdia | 12,711 | 37.2% | 12.4% | 1,249 | 11.52% | €15,062 |
| Puerto de la Cruz | 20,779 | 36.8% | 31.2% | 2,230 | 4.72% | €13,871 |
| Carballo | 19,427 | 36.6% | 26.8% | 1,535 | 0.48% | €13,292 |
| Blanes | 25,589 | 36.3% | 10.4% | 3,619 | 2.09% | €14,075 |
| Torre del Mar | 50,454 | 36% | 8.2% | 6,999 | 2.25% | €12,154 |
| Vélez-Málaga | 50,454 | 36% | 8.2% | 6,999 | 2.25% | €12,154 |
| Chiclana de la Frontera | 49,229 | 35.7% | 8.5% | 5,508 | 3.33% | €11,699 |
| Antigua | 8,222 | 34.7% | 37.3% | 613 | 13.8% | €12,607 |
| Corralejo | 16,893 | 34.4% | 32.1% | 1,240 | 23.55% | €12,260 |
| El Puerto de Santa María | 49,077 | 33.8% | 11% | 5,186 | 2.06% | €13,277 |
| Ciutadella de Menorca | 17,887 | 33.4% | 10.8% | 2,019 | 7.16% | €15,825 |
| Sitges | 19,230 | 33.1% | 10.5% | 1,939 | 4.83% | €21,387 |
| Santa Eulària des Riu | 22,810 | 33% | 26.8% | 1,393 | 3.38% | €16,994 |
| Sagunto | 41,287 | 32.5% | 11.9% | 4,485 | 0.94% | €13,986 |
| Maspalomas | 32,766 | 31.9% | 18.8% | 3,497 | 11.75% | €13,866 |
| Rincón de la Victoria | 27,620 | 31.9% | 9.7% | 2,766 | 2.38% | €15,614 |
| Torremolinos | 42,938 | 31.7% | 11.8% | 4,936 | 6.34% | €13,845 |
| Ferrol | 42,672 | 31.5% | 26.3% | 3,416 | 0.53% | €15,176 |
| Los Llanos de Aridane | 11,319 | 31.5% | 16.6% | 1,143 | 4.32% | €13,170 |
| Fuengirola | 48,887 | 30.6% | 13.3% | 6,207 | 5.94% | €12,115 |
| Granada | 141,257 | 30.4% | 8.4% | 11,270 | 2.19% | €16,024 |
| Sant Josep de sa Talaia | 15,683 | 29.4% | 21.4% | 840 | 5.94% | €17,830 |
| San Sebastián de La Gomera | 5,106 | 29.2% | 18.2% | 550 | 3.27% | €14,782 |
| Es Castell | 4,426 | 29% | 16.4% | 358 | 0.88% | €16,446 |
| Adeje / Costa Adeje | 26,798 | 27.9% | 22.4% | 2,185 | 14.11% | €12,060 |
| Alicante | 187,658 | 27.6% | 8.2% | 19,364 | 1.52% | €13,681 |
| Sanlúcar de Barrameda | 34,536 | 26.8% | 6.8% | 3,995 | 2.46% | €10,203 |
| Maó / Mahón | 15,173 | 25.4% | 8.3% | 1,028 | 1.13% | €16,314 |
| Narón | 21,735 | 25.3% | 18.2% | 1,593 | 0.11% | €14,101 |
| Adra | 12,315 | 25.3% | 9.7% | 1,252 | 0.6% | €10,156 |
| Oviedo | 127,210 | 24.9% | 7.4% | 15,170 | 0.66% | €16,926 |
| Almería | 100,957 | 24.7% | 9.9% | 7,963 | 0.95% | €13,372 |
| Teguise | 11,186 | 24.6% | 21.3% | 677 | 16.23% | €16,026 |
| Santa Cruz de La Palma | 7,535 | 24.1% | 21.4% | 741 | 3.45% | €15,511 |
| Castellón de la Plana | 91,229 | 23.5% | 11.4% | 7,455 | 0.43% | €14,696 |
| Pájara | 10,558 | 23.4% | 30.2% | 741 | 11.46% | €12,552 |
| A Coruña | 136,205 | 23.2% | 14.8% | 9,873 | 0.33% | €17,157 |
| Girona | 50,333 | 23.1% | 9.6% | 3,293 | 1.04% | €16,857 |
| Ibiza (Eivissa) | 23,938 | 22.7% | 10.1% | 1,246 | 0.43% | €17,493 |
| Pontevedra | 42,646 | 22.6% | 14.2% | 3,369 | 0.63% | €15,483 |
| Santander | 93,407 | 22.4% | 8.3% | 10,803 | 1.39% | €16,389 |
| Valencia | 414,988 | 22.1% | 8.8% | 30,168 | 1.3% | €16,121 |
| Los Barrios | 10,707 | 21.7% | 14.5% | 607 | 0.13% | €13,138 |
| Reus | 51,284 | 21% | 11.6% | 3,107 | 0.11% | €14,290 |
| Zarautz | 11,622 | 21% | 5.8% | 1,358 | 1.18% | €20,758 |
| Vigo | 144,293 | 20.9% | 15% | 9,667 | 0.78% | €15,359 |
| Tarragona | 67,200 | 20.3% | 12.4% | 4,414 | 1.11% | €15,847 |
| Sant Antoni de Portmany | 12,116 | 19.6% | 19% | 562 | 2.61% | €15,493 |
| Avilés | 42,296 | 19.3% | 8.1% | 3,572 | 0.31% | €15,545 |
| Gijón | 148,955 | 19.2% | 5.6% | 15,533 | 0.86% | €16,141 |
| La Línea de la Concepción | 30,028 | 19.1% | 16.2% | 1,938 | 0.45% | €11,553 |
| Huelva | 68,714 | 18.8% | 7.2% | 4,453 | 0.24% | €13,215 |
| Algeciras | 55,815 | 18.6% | 13.6% | 3,904 | 0.24% | €12,564 |
| Seville | 327,393 | 18.6% | 7.5% | 17,200 | 2.12% | €14,979 |
| Alhaurín de la Torre | 17,000 | 18.4% | 6.2% | 777 | 1.45% | €14,083 |
| Cádiz | 56,479 | 18.4% | 4.9% | 4,732 | 2.6% | €15,487 |
| Telde | 46,739 | 18.3% | 11.5% | 2,626 | 1.01% | €13,303 |
| Las Palmas de Gran Canaria | 175,181 | 18.3% | 14.2% | 10,609 | 1.59% | €14,968 |
| Puerto del Rosario | 18,683 | 17.2% | 8.4% | 1,339 | 2.11% | €13,593 |
| Barcelona | 808,751 | 17% | 9.3% | 55,772 | 1.02% | €19,527 |
| Málaga | 261,857 | 16.7% | 6.3% | 16,853 | 3.17% | €13,847 |
| Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 97,227 | 16.6% | 17.2% | 6,529 | 0.96% | €15,110 |
| San Sebastián / Donostia | 94,733 | 16.3% | 5.8% | 9,036 | 1.43% | €22,330 |
| Palma de Mallorca | 186,482 | 15.8% | 4.9% | 10,540 | 0.29% | €16,181 |
| Jerez de la Frontera | 92,974 | 14.3% | 8.1% | 5,385 | 1.13% | €12,242 |
| Castelldefels | 28,708 | 13.6% | 7.4% | 1,592 | 0.82% | €18,693 |
| Getxo | 34,366 | 11.5% | 4.8% | 2,840 | 0.37% | €24,626 |
| Arrecife | 25,339 | 10.4% | 12.2% | 1,442 | 2.36% | €12,079 |
| Bilbao | 165,685 | 9.8% | 5.5% | 16,188 | 0.76% | €19,478 |
| Badalona | 91,915 | 9.3% | 8.4% | 5,430 | 0.25% | €14,618 |
| Mataró | 52,996 | 9.2% | 3.6% | 3,135 | 0.25% | €14,433 |
How it is built
The first two columns come from the 2021 housing census, which covers all 8,131 municipalities in the country. The empty-home count is derived from electricity meters and published for 3,185 municipalities; every one of our coastal towns is among them.
The share of tourist flats is a separate state indicator, with a reference date of 2026-04-30. It is updated twice a year and counts registered dwellings only: a flat let without registration is not in the figure.
Income is the average net income per person for 2023, from municipal tax records. It sits beside the shares not to rank anything, but because without it the shares read wrongly: half the housing being non-main means one thing in a town earning €10,000 a head and another in a town earning €22,000.
Five places in our base are villages inside another municipality and share its figures. Torre del Mar shares them with Vélez-Málaga, so the two appear as separate rows carrying identical numbers: that is a property of the source, not a build error.
These shares cannot be compared with “second homes” in earlier censuses: the same word covered something else. Everything here is from the 2021 census — one year, one definition.
Licence and how to cite
Our compilation is published under CC BY 4.0. The primary sources are state ones; their own reuse terms are given at the links below.
Relocoast. How much housing sits empty on the Spanish coast. From the 2021 housing census, the tourist-accommodation register and municipal income statistics. https://relocoast.com/en/data/empty-homes
This is an observation, not a hint about where to look for a home: the empty share describes a municipality's electricity meters, not what is on the market.