Housing · Europe

Holiday homes, local wages

Thirty years of house prices, rents and local incomes in the places Europe goes on holiday.

Scroll to start in Mallorca

€3,981appraised value of a square metre on the Balearic Islands, 2026 Q2. Spain: €2,355.

13.6 yrsof income per resident for a 90 m² home on the islands in 2023. Spain: 8.9.

59tourist nights a year per Balearic resident in 2025. Spain: 10.4.

Question 1Can locals still afford a home on Mallorca?A 90 m² home on the Balearic Islands cost 13.6 years of income per resident in 2023, against 8.9 in Spain. In 2000 the two were 8.3 and 7.9.Question 2Where have holiday-region prices risen most?Since the end of 2019: Madeira +122%, Greater Lisbon +106%, Algarve +97%. The Balearic Islands rose 64%, Spain as a whole 42%.Question 3Do more tourists mean faster price rises?Only loosely. South Aegean has the most tourist nights per resident (127.9) but no regional price series; Greater Lisbon, with 9.3, rose 106% since the end of 2019.Question 4How stretched is housing across Europe?Against their own long-run averages (from 1995 for most countries), price-to-income ratios are highest in Portugal (146), Switzerland (136), Austria (124). Spain is at 123; 100 is the average.

Case study · Mallorca and the Balearic Islands

Thirty years on the islands

Appraisal value, euros per m²

1995 The starting point

Island homes were valued below the Spanish average

In 1995 a square metre on the Balearic Islands was appraised at €592 on average, against €683 for Spain as a whole. Mallorca is home to almost four in five Balearic residents.

Average appraisal value of free-market housing, euros per square metre. The early Balearic sample is small. Source: MITMA.

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Holiday regions · Affordability

How many years of local income a 90 m² home costs

The value of a 90 m² home divided by household disposable income per resident. Spain has comparable values back to the 1990s; Portugal's regional series start at the end of 2019, so only 2023 is shown. Italy, Greece and Croatia publish no regional price levels.

2007, before the bust
2015
2023, latest income data

Balearic IslandsSpain13.6

MálagaSpain13.5

Greater LisbonPortugal12.8

AlgarvePortugal12.2

BarcelonaSpain11.7

Canary IslandsSpain10.1

MadeiraPortugal10.1

Portugalnational9.1

Spainnational8.9

AlicanteSpain8.4

Spain: MITMA appraisal values for the province (region for the Canary Islands). Portugal: INE median sale price over the previous 12 months. Income: Eurostat household disposable income per inhabitant for the surrounding NUTS 2 region, so Málaga is set against Andalusian incomes and Barcelona against Catalan incomes. Per resident, not per household.

Holiday regions · Since the pandemic

Price rises since the end of 2019

Change in house prices from 2019 Q4 to the second quarter of 2026, the longest window every series shares. Holiday regions are in colour; national figures are grey.

MadeiraPortugal+122%
Portugalnational+107%
Greater LisbonPortugal+106%
Croatianational+102%
AlgarvePortugal+97%
Adriatic coastCroatia+92%
Greecenational+74%
MálagaSpain+68%
Balearic IslandsSpain+64%
AlicanteSpain+54%
Canary IslandsSpain+49%
Spainnational+42%
BarcelonaSpain+33%
Italynational+23%

Nominal prices. Spain: MITMA appraisal values. Portugal: INE median sale price over the previous 12 months. Croatia: DZS house price index. Italy and Greece: BIS national indices, the only series available.

Holiday regions · Tourism

More tourists per resident, faster price rises?

Each bubble is a region or country: tourist nights per resident in 2025 across, price change since 2019 Q4 up. The pattern is loose. Madeira rose most, but Lisbon, with few tourists per resident, rose almost as fast, and Portugal and Croatia as a whole rose faster than the Algarve and the Adriatic coast.

Nights in registered tourist accommodation per resident. Source: Eurostat. Also among the most visited, with no regional price series: Venice (province) (46.2 nights), Florence (province) (15.8 nights), South Aegean (127.9 nights), Crete (56.7 nights).

Holiday towns · Rents

Rents in Spanish holiday towns, 2015 to 2024

Change in rents on existing leases. Palma and Málaga rose most; every holiday town shown rose faster than Spain except Benidorm.

Málaga+33%
Palma de Mallorca+31%
Marbella+28%
Eivissa+28%
Calvià+27%
Barcelona+25%
Spainnational+23%
Benidorm+20%

INE rental price index (IPVA), built from tax returns on leases in force. It moves more slowly than asking rents on new contracts.

Thirty years

How house prices have changed since 1995, after inflation

Real house prices, first quarter of 1995 to the latest available quarter. Southern holiday countries are highlighted.

Norway+266%
Ireland+229%
Sweden+219%
Denmark+183%
United Kingdom+170%
Netherlands+160%
Spain+120%
United States+103%
Belgium+88%
Switzerland+88%
France+86%
Portugal+84%
Euro area+52%
Finland+37%
Germany+1%
Italy−5%

House prices deflated by the private consumption deflator. Source: OECD Analytical House Prices. Austria, Greece and Croatia are left out because their series start after 1995.

Europe at a glance

Where homes cost the most relative to incomes

Pick a country to compare its house prices with incomes and rents, each against its own thirty-year average.

Price to income
Price to rent
Mortgage payment

Index, Spain's own average = 100 (1995 to 2025; payment index: its own 2003 to 2026 average). Above 100 means homes cost more than usual relative to incomes or rents. The payment index multiplies price to income by the annual cost of a 25-year mortgage at the average new-loan rate. Sources: OECD Analytical House Prices; ECB MFI interest rates.

Price to income, latest quarter, relative to each country's average
Country	Price/income	Price/rent
	146	160
	136	140
	124	112
	123	149
	121	135
	115	139
	113	134
	112	139
	112	125
	110	117
	109	130
	107	120
	106	124
	103	99
	102	136
	99	116
	95	120
	89	95
	78	85

Latest available quarter, which differs by country (price to rent ends earlier for some), own 1995 to 2025 average = 100 (Austria from 2000, Greece from 1997, Croatia from 2005). Highlighted: 20% or more above average.

Method and sources

How the numbers were built

House prices, Spain. Average appraisal value of free-market housing per square metre, by province and region, quarterly since 1995 (Ministry of Transport, MITMA). Appraisals come from mortgage valuations, not sales. INE's sale price index (IPV, since 2007) is shown as a check.
House prices, Portugal. Median value per square metre of dwellings sold over the previous 12 months, by region, published quarterly since the fourth quarter of 2019 (INE Portugal).
House prices, Croatia, Italy, Greece. Croatia's statistics office index for the Adriatic coast (DZS). Italy and Greece publish no regional series in machine-readable form, so the BIS national indices are used.
Income. Household disposable income per inhabitant, NUTS 2 regions, 2000 to 2023 (Eurostat). Per resident, children and retirees included, not per household, so a household with several incomes needs fewer years than shown.
Rents. INE rental price index (IPVA), from tax returns on leases in force, 2011 to 2024. It lags asking rents for new contracts.
Tourism. Nights spent in registered tourist accommodation per resident (Eurostat). Platform rentals not registered as tourist accommodation are not included.
Europe. OECD Analytical House Prices: price to income, price to rent and real prices, each against its own 1995 to 2025 average. The payment index uses ECB rates on new mortgages, for euro area countries only.

Country	Price/income	Price/rent
	146	160
	136	140
	124	112
	123	149
	121	135
	115	139
	113	134
	112	139
	112	125
	110	117
	109	130
	107	120
	106	124
	103	99
	102	136
	99	116
	95	120
	89	95
	78	85

Country	Price/income	Price/rent
	146	160
	136	140
	124	112
	123	149
	121	135
	115	139
	113	134
	112	139
	112	125
	110	117
	109	130
	107	120
	106	124
	103	99
	102	136
	99	116
	95	120
	89	95
	78	85

Country	Price/income	Price/rent
	146	160
	136	140
	124	112
	123	149
	121	135
	115	139
	113	134
	112	139
	112	125
	110	117
	109	130
	107	120
	106	124
	103	99
	102	136
	99	116
	95	120
	89	95
	78	85