“A 5 square metre room for rent in La Laguna with a solvent guarantor and two months deposit.” This is one of the numerous ads that appear on digital real estate portals for Tenerife. The practice of renting a single room for monthly fees that until recently corresponded to the price of a whole house is increasingly common in the real estate market of Tenerife. At present, there are over 220 options of this kind available on these digital platforms, a number never seen before.
The rental of rooms has ceased to be a practice restricted to university students on the island. The drastic reduction in the supply of long-term rentals, the proliferation of vacation homes for short periods, the unreasonable increase in prices, and the lack of social housing have led Tenerife to an unprecedented crisis in the housing market. Chema Blanco, the real estate manager who posted the aforementioned ad on his profile, states on X (formerly Twitter): “The problem of renting in Tenerife: a gap in the housing law has led to a 20% increase in the supply of room rentals in shared flats. This is an example: £500, two months deposit, and you also have to provide your own bed.”
The number of rooms advertised is increasing and their prices are soaring, not only in Tenerife but also in the rest of the Canary Islands. Prices range from £200 for a room in Buenavista del Norte, £250 for another in Los Baldíos (La Laguna) and £280 for a room in the Santa Clara neighbourhood, to £1,900 for a villa in La Caleta de Adeje. The demands of the landlords for these rooms, generally not exceeding 10 square meters, are striking. “Responsible and hardworking person” is requested in one of the offers, while others require “guarantors with good financial standing.”
Data from real estate portals confirm this phenomenon. The supply of shared flats has increased by 85% in Santa Cruz de Tenerife over the past year, leading to an 18% rise in prices, up to £400 per month, according to a report published by Idealista. In the case of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the supply and price (£380/month) have remained unchanged. Across Spain, the supply has increased by 42% year-on-year, while the price has risen by 5% to £400 per month.
Increasing Costs
On average, sharing accommodation in Canarias costs £393 per month, which is 13.8% more than a year ago and 42% more compared to 8 years ago (2015), according to the Shared Housing in Spain study in 2023 based on rental prices over the past eight years from the Fotocasa Real Estate Index.
Comparing the prices of 2023 with those of 2015 (8 years ago), the difference has soared to 42%, from £277 per month in December 2015 to £393 per month in December 2023. In December of last year, in three of the autonomous communities analyzed, the price of shared housing increased by over 10% over the last 8 years. Sharing a home in the Basque Country has increased by 14.8%, in the Canary Islands by 13.8%, and in Murcia by 11.3%. Galicia follows closely with 8.6%, followed by the Valencian Community with 7.5%, Madrid with 7.5%, Catalonia with 6.7%, Asturias with 5.4%, and Castilla-La Mancha with 0.6%. On the other hand, the price of shared housing decreased in 2023 in Aragon by -0.8%, Castile and León by -0.9%, and Andalusia by -1.2%.
The real estate crisis and the desperation of many residents of Tenerife to find affordable rentals have fueled subterfuge, abuses, and irregularities, as denounced by the general secretary of the Consumers’ Union of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (UCE), Raúl Alonso. This is compounded by the lack of means and clear rules for monitoring these behaviors by the landlords.
