Scale or market composition? Short-term rentals and residential rents in Spain

Elena Muñoz-Muñoz

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, 2026, 1-27

Abstract: PurposeThis study aims to examine whether short-term rental (STR) pressure is associated with residential rent growth uniformly across Spanish housing markets or whether the relationship depends on market composition and spatial scale.Design/methodology/approachThe author combines Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) rental-price indices with official tourist-dwelling statistics scaled by fixed 2021 Census housing stocks. Balanced panels cover 701 municipalities and 367 districts in 48 Spanish cities during 2020–2024. Matched-city models hold composition fixed; preferred district models use first differences, city-by-year fixed effects and pre-existing rent trajectories.FindingsThe municipality-level association is fragile to the documented 2024 Andalusian revision and prior rent trends. Restricting the municipality analysis to the same 48 cities yields a positive association. Within cities, the preferred pretrend-controlled estimate is 0.364% per one percentage point larger annual increase in STR pressure (CR2 p = 0.060; wild-Webb p = 0.068). Identification is highly concentrated.Research limitations/implicationsThe observational design cannot rule out time-varying district-level confounding, reverse causality or spatial spillovers. District evidence applies to provincial capitals and autonomous cities, not specialised resort markets.Practical implicationsThe findings caution against assuming a single national STR–housing relationship. Monitoring and policy evaluation should consider market composition and within-city variation in STR pressure.Originality/valueThe study provides a Spain-wide comparison using harmonised official data and a common stock-scaled exposure concept, separating market composition from geographical scale and identifying variation.

Keywords: Short-term rentals; Tourist dwellings; Rental prices; Housing markets; Spatial heterogeneity; Market composition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijhmap:ijhma-08-2026-0289

DOI: 10.1108/IJHMA-08-2026-0289

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