Student housing shortage in Spain

Early August reports highlighted that university residences in Spain’s Basque province of Bizkaia were already at full capacity, forcing many students to turn to a tight private rental market. The same coverage noted parallel affordability challenges for students in Costa Rica, prompting calls for mixed‑financing dormitories and stronger tenant protections.

A few days later, the focus shifted to Andalusia, where rapid enrollment growth in Granada, Sevilla and Málaga was outpacing the limited supply of university housing. Nationally, Spain was estimated to need more than 528,000 additional student‑housing places, with the current provision rate at just 8%, one of the lowest in Europe. International students now represent about 11% of the university population, intensifying demand. Operator Livensa Living, which manages over 9,000 beds across the Iberian Peninsula, was cited as running only four residences in the three Andalusian cities, underscoring the persistent supply‑demand gap.