How Spain will pay thousands to owners who rent out empty homes

The benefit packages are part of Spain's 2026-2030 State Housing Plan and are designed to offer incentives to owners who make their properties available to public social or affordable rental programmes.

The idea is to increase the supply of available housing by making agreements with landlords who have empty properties. It also seeks to expand the stock of affordable housing without the need to construct new buildings in the short term.

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Aid for transferring properties to social housing

Owners with empty properties could get an incentive of up to €600 per month if they decide to put them back on the rental market. They could also charge up to €600 in rent, taking the total income for landlords to €1,200 a month.

To qualify, the properties must be part of public housing transfer programmes designed for affordable rentals, with price limits and specific conditions on duration.

Owners must agree transfer their properties to these state programmes for a minimum period of seven years. During that time, the owner will retain ownership of the property, although the management of the rental may be handled by public bodies or other authorised bodies.

Although owners can get up to €600 per month, the specific amount will depend on where the property is located, its characteristics, and the rental programme it will be included in.

The government says that this model aims offer greater security to homeowners, guarantee stable incomes, as well as increasing the supply of affordable housing.

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Subsides for rehabilitation and renovation

The plan includes more subsidies for the rehabilitation and adaptation of properties that have been unoccupied for a while, so that they can be put back on the market. This could be up to €12,000 for necessary renovations.

Some aid packages could even reach €30,000- €35,000 for rehabilitation projects related to vacant homes that have been out of use for a long time.

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Compensation

There are also compensation packages on offer for €18,000, intended to cover possible damages or restitution when the transfer of the property ends.

Aid for empty properties in ‘stressed' rental areas

There are further aid packages available to those who own vacant properties in so-called 'stressed' rental areas. These are areas where the average cost of rent or mortgage for homes plus related expenses exceeds 30 percent of the average salary of the population in the area, or if the purchase or rental price has experienced an accumulated increase of three points above the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

In this case, aid may reach €17,000-€25,000 depending on the specific conditions of transfer.

Why Spain's government is doing this

The problem of empty homes in Spain is nothing new, but it has been brought to the forefront of political debate recently due to the ongoing housing crisis.

Figures from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) estimate that there around four million empty homes in Spain. Many of them, however, are located in rural areas at risk of depopulation.

According to data from Brains – the real estate big data platform, Galicia tops the list where 28.8 percent of homes were empty in the first quarter of 2026. This is followed by Castilla-La Mancha with 22.6 percent, then Castilla y León with 19.7 percent and the Canary Islands with 19.4 percent.

The government believes that many of Spain's vacant homes could be brought back onto the market if owners have greater economic and legal guarantees.