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RENTING

How to find temporary accommodation in Spain when you first arrive

Finding somewhere to stay for a few weeks or months when you first move to Spain and you're looking for a more permanent place can be particularly tricky, but we've found some of the best options available to you.

Published: 15 September 2022 14:47 CEST
Updated: 30 November 2023 09:51 CET
finding temporary accommodation spain
Blocks of flats in Seville. Find a place to stay a few weeks or months while you find a more permanent place to rent or buy in Spain can be challenging. Photo: AXP Photography/Unsplash

So you’ve sorted out your visas, you’ve done all your packing and have either sold or moved out of your home, but when you arrive in Spain you’re not exactly sure where you’re going to stay.

Of course, it’s not the best idea to sign a contract ahead of time for a more permanent place before you’ve actually seen it in person. Photos don’t always accurately represent what the house or apartment looks like in reality and you won’t really be able to get a feel for the neighbourhood without being there. 

On top of this, rental scams are rife in some places in Spain, particularly in the bigger more popular cities like Barcelona. Often people will place an ad (which usually looks too good to be true) and get you to wire over a deposit to secure it in advance, but here’s the catch – the place doesn’t usually exist.

This is why it’s important to never hand over money to secure a place to live in Spain before you’ve actually seen it in person and you can get the keys as soon as you sign the contract.

But, finding a place to live in a new country can be difficult and it can take time. So while you look for somewhere, you’re going to need temporary accommodation for a couple of months.

This can be tricky too because often temporary accommodation is geared towards tourists and you’ll be paying tourist prices too.

READ ALSO: 

While Idealista and Fotocasa are two of the most popular sites to look for accommodation in Spain, when you only want somewhere for a couple of months, there’s no point looking there, as most places will have yearly contracts.

Keep in mind with short-term rentals for a couple of months, you’re going to be paying higher than the average monthly rent of someone on a permanent rental contract.

At least these temporary apartments are usually fully furnished, including kitchen utensils, wi-fi already connected and offer you the flexibility of shorter contracts.

Short-term rental agencies

Specialised short-term rental agencies are the best way to go, which will allow you to sign contacts for less than the typical one year. These types of agencies are usually found in Spain’s big cities that are popular with foreigners, such as Madrid and Barcelona.

Trying searching in Spanish too by typing alquiler de temporada or alquiler temporal plus the name of the city or town you’re looking in. This way you may be able to find places that offer better value. 

Barcelona

In Barcelona, check out aTemporal an agency that started up precisely to fix the problem of trying to find accommodation in-between tourist accommodation and long-term rentals. They rent out apartments for anywhere from 32 days to 11 months.

ShBarcelona is another agency that specialises in these types of rentals and have properties all over the city.

READ ALSO – Moving to Barcelona: A guide to the best neighbourhoods to live in

Madrid

In Madrid, try DFLAT, which was created by two professionals from the Instituto de Empresa University after discovering the difficulties professionals and foreigners found when looking for an apartment in Madrid. Sh also has a good branch in Madrid.  

Valencia

In Valencia, Dasha Living Space has both short and long-term fully furnished flats available and  Valenvi Flats also offers rentals for between three and six months.

READ ALSO – Moving to Valencia: A guide to the best neighbourhoods to live in

Airbnb

While the nightly rate of Airbnb apartments is typically too expensive to rent for a couple of months, you may be able to find some deals. Often when you input dates for a month into Airbnb, you’ll find that several places have a monthly discount offered. Also, some owners will do a deal for a couple of months. If it’s winter for example and they know they’re not going to get many tourists anyway, they may be willing to negotiate.

Vrbo

Like Airbnb, the properties on Vrbo are rented out directly by the owners. While the site is also mainly focused on tourists, some owners may negotiate outside of the tourist season.

Housesitting

If you’re willing to try something a little bit different, then housesitting could be the way to go. This is where you live in somebody’s house for free, in exchange for looking after their pets and their property.

Often people only need someone for a few days, but sometimes you’ll see house sits available for a month or longer. This is perhaps a better option for those who are flexible on where they might want to live and are trying out a few different places. It’s also better for those wanting to live in smaller towns or villages rather than the bigger cities, as there are fewer postings for these popular locations. Trusted Housesitters and Mind My House are good options. 

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PROPERTY

Why Spain is looking to Vienna to fix its housing crisis

Spain is trailing behind the rest of the EU when it comes to social housing and has one of the lowest proportions of stock, so could replicating the Austrian capital's model be the solution?

Published: 26 April 2024 10:50 CEST
Why Spain is looking to Vienna to fix its housing crisis

According to figures from Spain’s Land and Housing Observatory, in 2020 just 2.5 percent of total constructions in Spain were for social housing, far lower than in countries such as Austria, where it was 24 percent, the Netherlands, with 30 percent, and Denmark at 20.9 percent. 

Spain is one of a small handful of EU countries that have surprisingly low social housing provisions. Spain ranks 18th in the EU overall and is joined at the bottom of the table by countries such as Romania (1.5 percent), Estonia (1.7 percent), Croatia (1.8 percent) and Portugal (2 percent).

Spain’s 2.5 percent figures are also much lower than the wider European average of 9.3 percent. In recent years, Spain has not even managed to complete 10,000 social housing units per year, compared to 60,000 a decade ago.

READ ALSO – EXPLAINED: How Spain plans to address its huge lack of social housing

Furthermore, public housing has become increasingly privatised in recent years, affecting most of the almost 2.5 million subsidised homes built since 1981, when the first plan was approved. In 2012, the construction of social housing plummeted and dropped from 50,000 homes annually to just 9,200 in 2022.

The Viennese model

For decades now, Vienna, the Austrian capital, has increased its stock of price-controlled social housing and has stood out for its housing policy.

Although there is social housing throughout the country, the majority of it is concentrated in the capital city. 

The Vienna City Council has become the biggest homeowner in Europe – around 60 percent of residents live in one of 220,000 properties subsidised by the public sector, and the city invests up to €600 million annually in affordable housing models.

By increasing social housing and limiting rent, the value of housing has also been limited and prices have been regulated. For example, in Vienna, rent is around €9 per m/2, according to the consulting firm Deloitte.

This figure is much lower than that of the rest of the European capitals, compared to London or Paris, for example, where the rental price per m/2 is around €30. In comparison, rent in Barcelona and Madrid is around €17 and €14 m/2 respectively.

The requirements to be able to access social housing in Vienna are also very broad. Basically, you need to be 17 years old or older, be registered Vienna and earn more than €43,000 net annually. Rent can also not represent more than 30 percent of your income.

READ ALSO: Spain needs to build 1.2 million affordable rental homes in a decade

How Spain is planning on replicating the Vienna model

Spain, like many EU countries, has begun to turn towards the Viennese model.

Madrid in particular hopes to increase the real estate stock by 70,000 homes in four years, of which up to 40,000 will be dedicated to social housing according to regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

Like in Vienna, Madrid hopes to balance the real estate market naturally without limiting prices. For example, in Vienna where the private real estate stock has been regulated, 60 square meter homes can vary between €600 and €700 per month. This is almost impossible in Madrid and Barcelona, where a home with the same characteristics can exceed more than €1,000 per month.

The Spanish government recently approved a plan to allocate 50,000 ‘Sareb’ homes to bolster its dwindling social housing stock. La Sociedad de Gestión de Activos Procedentes de la Reestructuración Bancaria or ‘Sareb’ was created eleven years ago to buy real estate assets from banks that went bankrupt during the 2008 financial crisis, and has been state-run since 2022.

Sánchez followed up on this 50,000 pledge by announcing the financing of a further 43,000 homes for social housing paid for with €4 billion of European funds.

“I want to announce that, in addition to the mobilisation of 50,000 Sareb homes, we are going to finance the development of another 43,000 new homes for social rent and rent at affordable prices,” the Prime Minister said.

He also criticised Spain’s “embarrassing” social housing stock compared to Europe, and reinforced his “commitment” to “move forward so that housing is a right and not a problem for the majority of citizens”. 

Having an extensive public housing stock allows prices to be lowered and ensures that there’s sufficient supply.

Christian Schantl, the head of the International Relations department of the public company Wiener Wohnen, the entity that manages public rentals in the city of Vienna, has advised Spain that to do this, they should not sell public housing under any circumstances.

In an interview with El País he said: “You cannot completely copy and paste the system, it would not work. One thing [the Spanish Government] should not do is sell its public housing. This is very important because many cities in Europe have made that mistake and are now facing serious problems. So that’s the first thing: never sell what you have. And then, there are some elements that are important to take into account, such as the financial situation, the necessary land, the legal framework and housing policies,” he continued.

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