Ghost towns on the Spanish coast: half of the houses are empty most of the year.

In Torrevieja (Alicante), there are more empty houses than people living there year-round. Of the 122,000 properties built, only 36,000 are categorized as primary residences, either owned or rented. In Noja (Cantabria), only one in ten homes is permanently occupied. And in Oropesa del Mar and Peñíscola (both in Castellón), 80% of the homes are second homes or holiday apartments . These figures paint a phantasmal picture in many municipalities, where the summer bustle contrasts with the calm that prevails the rest of the year.

The list includes Benicàssim (Castellón), Santa Pola (Alicante), and Castelló d'Empúries (Girona); as well as Chipiona (Cádiz), Salou (Tarragona), Punta Umbría (Huelva), Andratx (Balearic Islands), and Llanes (Asturias), to name a few examples along the entire coastline . There are dozens of coastal towns where between 50% and 90% of the houses have no one registered, but which are full in the summer.

The General Council of Economists provides a snapshot of the situation in its socioeconomic data sheets, recently updated with data from the National Statistics Institute (INE). The statistical institute considers a primary residence to be one that is permanently occupied, while the non-primary residence section includes a multitude of possibilities: from second homes to abandoned homes , including those used sporadically, such as for tourism. For this analysis, only municipalities with more than 10,000 properties were selected, to avoid the bias that would be caused by the small towns of the "empty" Spain , which are numerous and have many abandoned houses.

There are 462 towns distributed throughout Spain. Of these, 62 (14%) have a higher proportion of non-primary homes than primary homes. With a few exceptions, such as Jaca (Huesca)—due to ski and mountain tourism—all are located in coastal areas. In municipalities such as Oliva (Valencia) or Benidorm (Alicante), the percentage of non-primary homes barely exceeds 50%, but it typically exceeds 70%.

The coast, especially the Mediterranean coast, tends to have few inhabitants relative to the number of registered homes. This is a consequence, explains José García Montalvo, professor of economics at Pompeu Fabra University and researcher at IVIE (Valencian Institute of Economic Research), of the developmentalism of the 1980s and a monoculture of tourism , with practically the entire economy centered on this activity.

This creates a contradiction between those who reside year-round and those who do so occasionally, primarily in the summer. Community ties are virtually nonexistent. "The relationship is completely depersonalized," notes Iván Auciello, an economics researcher at the CY Paris Cergy Université and a fellow at Future Policy Lab. He adds that the massive seasonal arrival, "in addition to having negative externalities such as noise and parties ," tends to break down neighborhood cohesion.

The impact is multiplied where the majority of properties are used for purposes other than residential . The intermittent nature of occupation contributes to the creation of fragmented environments, lacking a stable neighborhood fabric or community dynamics. In this context, Auciello adds, residential space becomes a temporary consumer product rather than a place to live, which exacerbates daily conflicts and limits the steadfastness of those who do live in these places.

Zaida Muxí, architect, urban planner, and professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, adds another source of conflict: public resources and infrastructure. Services such as waste collection , transportation, and healthcare are often determined by the permanent population. “When this imbalance occurs, the city can't cope,” she continues. Added to this is residential tension: “Real estate prices and tourist demand are driving many residents away from the better-off parts of the city.”

Montalvo qualifies these interpretations and emphasizes that, while there are negative externalities—such as noise, higher rents, or management overhead—tourism also provides benefits. In many cases, he says, the economic viability of these cities depends directly on this activity, and residents know this, which is why they accept and promote it .

María Dolores is well aware of the reality of the phenomenon and moves between both worlds. She works in a retail store in Peñíscola and lives with her family in a block where the majority of second homes are located. “Here, most people make their living directly or indirectly from tourism, but you never really get used to the changes the town undergoes in the summer,” she explains. She's referring to the accumulation of waste and noise, but also to something as simple as parking your car, going to the doctor, or withdrawing money from an ATM. “What usually takes a moment can take forever in the summer,” she points out.

City councils are aware of the situation and are trying to change their policies during the summer. Municipal sources in Peñíscola explain that there are approximately 9,000 registered residents there, although the sustained population is somewhat higher, approximately double that. In the summer, however, second homes fill up and another 80,000 people arrive. To address this phenomenon, they add, contracts vary depending on the season. "Waste collection is reinforced and an additional water tank is activated to supply the city ." Other services, such as the local police, are overstretched during the rest of the year, as staffing is limited to the peak season.

Acciona holds the contract for cleaning services in Torrevieja and Calp (Alicante). The company explains that there has been an average increase of 45% and 40% in urban waste compared to the off-season. Collection teams are also being expanded to strengthen routes and handle larger volumes, while also increasing collection frequency.

Something similar is happening in Benicàssim. The council explains that during the summer peaks, the population reaches 100,000, up from the usual 25,000. Therefore, they recently put out to tender a new cleaning contract for an annual amount of five million, triple the previous figure. Lluís, a civil servant, normally resides in the center of the Castellón municipality. However, when August arrives, he packs his suitcase and moves far away. "There are things that can be solved, like increased garbage collection." But others cannot: noise, parties, waiting for a seat at a terrace, or supermarkets running out of stock.

For eight years, María Ramos has been a regular resident of Benicàssim, where she moved from Madrid. She lives in a stress-free area, “so quiet that there are only two families in my building during the winter.” And she admits that life changes completely in the summer: “Even the time we buy bread changes, because we run out, or the time we have to go to work.” Are there advantages? “The supermarket is open on weekends, we have a cinema, and there's a lot of life,” she explains. “Many of us enjoy it because winter is lonelier, but those who don't like it really struggle.”

In these towns, maintaining services during the summer peaks represents a disproportionate economic and logistical effort compared to the available resources . As the Peñíscola council explains, "it's not easy due to the gap between the income we receive from the population we have by right and the one we have by default." Although they acknowledge additional resources thanks to second homes and hotels through the IBI (Property Tax) or ICIO (Income Tax) , a large part of the money generated by tourism—especially VAT—does not flow into local coffers.

Overcrowding can cause problems in services such as garbage collection or public transportation, but it also poses a risk in others, such as healthcare . Joana Melero, a cardiologist at Castellón General Hospital, explains that her team goes from four specialists to three during the holidays, just when the province's population soars. Sometimes, she continues, the thousands of people who travel to Peñíscola or Benicàssim "sadly suffer heart attacks and are referred here," so "the pressure on healthcare is enormous." Although some care can be reinforced with summer clinics, other specialties like hers centralize serious cases that cannot wait and overwhelm the center.

From the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), its general secretary, Luis Martínez-Sicluna, points out that "tourism has a positive impact, but also the negative side associated with a massive influx." Managing the increase requires resources that are often not available. The law allows some additional funding for tourist municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants and many second homes, but it is "insufficient" compared to the costs involved in covering a population that has grown fivefold. The FEMP, therefore, is demanding a revamp of the local financing system.

The contrast of the capitals

Those who populate coastal areas in the summer tend to live abroad or in Spain's major capital cities , where non-primary residences are much lower, at approximately 15%. They also reside in commuter towns that have sprung up around them, where the percentage is much lower, between 5% and 8%. These include towns such as Coslada, Móstoles, and Alcorcón (in Madrid), and Ripollet, Sant Andreu, and all those in the Llobregat area, in Barcelona. The same is true in the Basque industrial belt, such as Barakaldo, Basauri, or Portugalete, and those surrounding Valencia (Paterna or Catarroja) and Seville (Dos Hermanas or La Rinconada).

Paloma Taltavull, professor of Applied Economics at the University of Alicante, attributes the low figures to several factors. On the one hand, the anecdotal effect of empty housing. "It's impossible to know precisely how many houses are uninhabited in these areas, but they are few ." The strong residential tension and sky-high housing demand mean that most homeowners have homes where someone lives, either themselves or through permanent rentals. On the other hand, there is the limited presence of tourist apartments. " In the capitals, it's somewhat higher due to the attraction they generate for some visitors, but in the surrounding cities, it's almost nonexistent." The last variant is student apartments. They are often counted statistically as non-main units because their tenants are not always registered there, but in practice, Taltavull insists, they are occupied.

Abandonment and weekend houses

The phenomenon of non-primary residence is also present in rural and inland areas , although the causes and consequences differ greatly from those observed in tourist regions and cities. It is often due to progressive abandonment, the aging population, and the fact that many of these houses function as second weekend homes.

When analyzing the map drawn by the data—regardless of the number of homes in each municipality—the highest proportions of non-primary residences are found in what is known as "empty Spain ." There, small towns such as Soria, Guadalajara, Cuenca, and Teruel have percentages exceeding 90%. In slightly larger towns , such as Medina de Pomar and Villacaryo (Burgos) or Sigüenza (Guadalajara), the rate exceeds 65%.

A significant portion of this housing stock is blocked by inheritance issues, explains Auciello. These homes, when left unused and unmaintained, end up deteriorating or falling into disrepair. "This not only degrades the property itself, but also the municipality," he adds. Another significant portion is made up of second family homes, with a particular impact in provinces such as Toledo, Ávila, and Burgos, close to large cities. In contrast to the social tension that mass tourism often generates in coastal areas, in inland towns the relationship between residents and owners who return sporadically tends to be closer. "They normally maintain the house and have relationships with the permanent residents," says Auciello.