Tourist licence in Spain 2026: restrictions and holiday-let yields

Holiday lets (Airbnb, Booking, Vrbo) have gone from being the star investment of the last decade to an increasingly regulated sector, with moratoriums on licences in the main cities and tighter yields. Are they still a good investment in 2026?

Where licences stand in 2026

Across Spain: since 3 April 2025, opening a new holiday let in a block of flats requires a vote in favour from 3/5 of the owners, who must together hold 3/5 of the ownership shares; flats that were already operating don't need it. In May 2026 Spain's Supreme Court struck down the single national register that had started in July 2025, so the number that counts is the one from each region's tourist register. Madrid: the Plan Reside has been in force since September 2025. In the historic centre, individual holiday flats are no longer allowed in residential buildings; in the rest of the city, they're only allowed on the ground or first floor and with a separate entrance. Barcelona: no new licences have been granted since 2014, and the city council has announced that the roughly 10,000 that remain will expire in 2028 across the whole city. Valencia: after the 2024 moratorium, the rules approved in March 2026 only allow them on ground and first floors, with their own access from the street and in neighbourhoods that aren't saturated. Andalusia: the Junta (the regional government) allows town councils to limit or suspend them; Málaga has suspended new ones across the whole municipality since August 2025, for three years at most, and Seville limits their number by neighbourhood. Balearic Islands and Canary Islands: in the Balearics, no new ones have been allowed in flats in apartment blocks since April 2025, and Palma has banned them in any type of home; in the Canary Islands, since December 2025, they're only allowed where the local planning rules permit.

Real yields in 2026

In areas where it's still possible, the gross yield of a holiday let is 8-14%, against 4-6% for a long-term residential let. But the costs are higher: managing cleaning between guests, platforms (Airbnb keeps around 15% of each booking with its single fee), utilities, intensive maintenance and the low-occupancy months of the off-season.

Is it still a good investment?

It depends on the area: where licences are still accessible and tourist demand is strong (the Mediterranean coast, the Canary Islands, mid-sized cities with growing tourism), holiday lets are still very profitable. In Madrid, the regulatory restrictions mean that existing licences have value in themselves as an asset; in Barcelona, by contrast, they expire in 2028.

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