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Diario Euskadi

New Rental Contracts in Gipuzkoa Plummet by 61% as Prices Hit Record Highs

The implementation of rent-controlled zones in Donostia, Irun, and Errenteria has led to a significant drop in signed contracts, with the average rent reaching a historic peak of 921 euros.

Generic image of a hand holding a house key, with a blurred background showing a stack of euro banknotes and a rental contract.
IA

Generic image of a hand holding a house key, with a blurred background showing a stack of euro banknotes and a rental contract.

The signing of new rental contracts in Gipuzkoa has seen a 61% decrease during the third quarter of 2025, following the designation of Donostia, Irun, and Errenteria as rent-controlled zones, while the average rent has climbed to a record 921 euros.

The rental market in Gipuzkoa has surpassed a new price threshold, with the average rent for new contracts reaching 921 euros. These figures pertain to the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest statistics from the Basque Government's Department of Housing. This upward trend, showing no signs of abating, has been corroborated by the Basque Housing Observatory through its updated Rental Market Statistics (EMAL).
According to EMAL, the number of new rental contracts in Gipuzkoa has decreased by 61%, with San Sebastián experiencing a 53% drop. However, new rental prices in the Gipuzkoan capital saw a quarterly decrease of 2.6%, from 1,190 euros to 1,159 euros, though it remains the most expensive capital. Further analysis is needed to determine if this decline is a temporary phenomenon or the beginning of a new dynamic.
As of September 30, 2025, Gipuzkoa had 30,366 active rental contracts for primary residences. This figure is 303 more than on the same date the previous year but 128 fewer than three months prior. This indicates a significant slowdown in the pace of renewals and new leases, dropping from 1,420 signings in the second quarter of 2025 to 551 in the subsequent period, a 61% reduction.
This decrease is more pronounced in Gipuzkoa, as Bizkaia saw a 19% drop, and Araba even registered a 6% increase. In the latter two territories, no municipality had yet been declared a rent-controlled zone. Of the 551 new contracts, two out of five were signed in Donostia, where the situation differs from the other two Basque capitals.
In Donostia, 209 new contracts were signed in three months, 53% fewer than in the previous quarter. This situation was not mirrored in Bilbao, which experienced a 10% decrease, nor in Vitoria, which showed an 11.5% increase in new deposits. Donostia's data for new contracts in 2025 could be the worst of the last decade, with 1,117 new deposits recorded by the end of the third quarter, far from the 2,088 of the previous year and the 1,977 of 2016.
The overall decline in rentals is widespread across the territory, not just in the localities designated as rent-controlled zones. In the first three quarters of 2025, 3,540 new contracts were signed, a figure significantly lower than the 6,743 of 2024 and the average of the last eight years, which stands at 7,700 new annual leases between 2016 and 2023.

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