Madrid · report

Buy or rent in Madrid

Renting a 90 m² home costs less each month than owning it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the appraised value; rent is the mean of new leases. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.

Rent per month: €1,544
Owning per month: €1,725

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average appraised value of €5,418/m², and the mean rent of leases signed in 2024, €17.2/m² a month, in Madrid, and a mortgage rate of 3.0%.

Assumptions

Home size, m²

Deposit

Mortgage rate, %

Running costs, % of price a year

Property tax (IBI), insurance, maintenance and the community of owners.

Return on savings, % a year

What the deposit and purchase costs could earn if invested instead.

Purchase costs, % of price

Transfer tax or VAT, stamp duty, notary and land registry, paid once.

Renting costs less each month than owning.

Rent a month: €1,544
Owning a month, not recovered: €1,711
Interest: €1,097
Running costs: €406
Return given up: €207
Cash out a month, if buying: €2,257

The comparison counts only the costs of owning you never get back: interest, running costs and what the deposit and purchase costs could earn elsewhere. Loan repayments build equity, so they are left out. So is any rise in the home's value, because nobody knows it in advance. Rents here are the mean rent of leases signed in the year, from landlords' income tax returns (AEAT); prices are appraised values, not sale prices.

Other reports for Madrid

Affordability

At the average appraised value, a 90 m² home costs €487,656. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is €1,860 a month. Spain sets no cap on the payment; lenders must assess each borrower's solvency.

Payment, two incomes: 46%
Payment, one income: 92%

New homes

2.5% more homes were licensed for construction in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Licensed, 12 months: 19,301
Per 1,000 residents: 5.5

Foreign buyers

Buyers living abroad bought 1.4% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q2 2026.

Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months: 1.4%

Past cycles

Appraised values have fallen by 3% or more once since 2005. That fall began in Q1 2007.

Deepest fall: −39.0%
Recovery from the low: 114 months

Empty homes

6.3% of the 1,533,221 homes counted in the 2021 census stood empty, whether for sale, to let or for other reasons.

Empty, 2021 census: 6.3%
Empty homes: 96,921