BEFORE committing to buying a permanent home in Spain, many movers prefer to rent for a specific length of time to get a feel for life in their new country; this is also likely to be the go-to option for anyone planning to live in Spain for a finite period, such as for work, or just to experience a new culture and language for a while.
Lugo's Roman city wall (photo by Galicia regional tourism board)
Buying a property in Spain as a long-term investment, and renting it out as a main home, is another way of creating a solid tie with the western Mediterranean country, and potentially providing a pied à terre that can be used as an eventual retirement retreat.
How much you might have to pay each month as a tenant, or how much you can expect to charge, are fairly crucial initial considerations before your journey even begins. Of course, you may already have a very set idea as to where in Spain you want to focus on – in which case, you can check out typical prices by area in our Property to Rent section.
Always bear in mind that rent prices in Spain tend to be more dynamic and market-sensitive than the cost of buying, and that both of these can vary considerably – not just by area, but in the same area. Renting or buying a home in one street may be far more expensive than in another street barely 100 metres away, or might be cheaper in the next town along the road.
Average city rental prices
To gain an idea of average rental prices, figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) shows us that in provincial capital cities across the board, the approximate cost to a tenant is around €9.77 per square metre of property.
Based upon a house or flat of 90 square metres – which would typically have around three bedrooms in the case of the latter, or two if it was a villa – this means a national average monthly rent of €879 if you're in a city.
Naturally, provincial capitals are not the end of the story – or even the whole of the beginning of the story. Very few are close to a beach, most are at the higher end of the price range for their province as a whole, and their main market is among the workforce, particularly those in jobs that do not permit remote working.
But the cost of rent in a capital gives a starting point when working out the cost elsewhere in the province.
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