Rental index: Spain and Italy
Six cities, 39 districts and three questions, that the market usually only answers after three viewings: how much does it cost to per square metre per month, how much cheaper the same apartment is unfurnished versus furnished, and with what amounts in the city, three-bedroom options start at all.
Price per m²
Cost per square metre of rental per month
Median across listings in each city. The darker section of the bar shows the same apartment unfurnished furniture: the difference between the two rates is the price of furnishings — and that gap varies by city it varies by several times.
Summary
Six markets in one table
| City | Prices start from | €/sq m furnished | The apartment comes furnished | Three-bedroom units from | Variation across neighbourhoods |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona Spain | from 900 € | 27,0 € | −26 % | 1,900 € | ×1,69 |
| Madrid Spain | from 900 € | 26,0 € | −9 % | 1,750 € | ×1,51 |
| Valencia Spain | from 700 € | 18,9 € | −22 % | 1,250 € | ×1,46 |
| Alicante Spain | from 600 € | 15,6 € | −20 % | 1,050 € | ×1,74 |
| Marbella Spain | from 1,000 € | 27,7 € | −22 % | 2,100 € | ×1,48 |
| Milan Italy | from 1,000 € | 26,7 € | −16 % | 2,000 € | ×1,81 |
Price spread by neighbourhood — how many times more expensive per square metre the priciest district is compared to than in the most affordable one. That is the price of an address: within a single city it varies more than between cities.
By city
What matters in each market
Barcelona
Over five years, rents have risen 93%: from €15.7 to €27.7/m² per month. An apartment stays on the market for about three days.
Barcelona holds Spain’s record for the gap: unfurnished apartments tend to cost roughly a third less.
Cheapest of all — Nou Barris (18,2 €/sq m), the most expensive — Eixample (30,8 €/sq m). Nou Barris and Sant Andreu — the only neighbourhoods, where three-bedroom properties start from 1,900 €.
Madrid
The market moves quickly, but is not as cutthroat as Barcelona. The key difference: furnished vs. unfurnished barely affects the price here.
In Madrid, furnished vs. unfurnished barely affects the price: the gap is around 9%, compared to a third in Barcelona.
Cheapest of all — Usera (20,8 €/sq m), the most expensive — Salamanca (31,4 €/sq m). Vallecas, Usera, and Carabanchel — the only neighbourhoods, where three-bedroom properties start from 1,750 €.
Valencia
The most accessible of the major Spanish markets: a three-bedroom here costs what a one-bedroom costs in Barcelona.
The price gap for furnished vs. unfurnished in Valencia is noticeable — around a quarter more.
Cheapest of all — Campanar (16,5 €/sq m), the most expensive — El Carmen (24,2 €/sq m). Benimaclет and Campanar — the only neighbourhoods, where three-bedroom properties start from 1,250 €.
Alicante
The market is seasonal: in summer landlords hold out for tourists and raise prices; in winter long-term rentals get cheaper.
Furniture is almost always already included: the market is geared towards newcomers, with furnished apartments typically costing around 20% more than unfurnished ones.
Cheapest of all — Babel (12,9 €/sq m), the most expensive — Center · Merced (22,5 €/sq m). Babel and Carolinas — the only neighbourhoods, where three-bedroom properties start from 1,050 €.
Marbella
In summer, part of the rental stock shifts to short-term lets, and long-term options become noticeably scarcer.
Almost everything is rented furnished: finding an unfurnished flat here is harder than finding a furnished one.
Cheapest of all — San Pedro de Alcántara (22,7 €/sq m), the most expensive — Puerto Banús (33,7 €/sq m). San Pedro and Nueva Andalucía — the only neighbourhoods, where three-bedroom properties start from 2,100 €.
Milan
Rooms are counted all together here: bilocale means a bedroom plus a living room — the equivalent of a Russian two-room apartment.
In Italy the furnished-vs-unfurnished premium is smaller than in Spain — typically 15–20% between arredato and non arredato.
Cheapest of all — Lambrate (22,1 €/sq m), the most expensive — Brera (40,0 €/sq m). Bicocca and Lambrate — the only neighbourhoods, where three-bedroom properties start from 2,000 €.
Methodology
How the index was calculated
Where the numbers come from
The foundation is our showroom sample collection: 57 apartments in 6 cities, each with a known neighbourhood, area, and two rates — furnished and unfurnished. The rate per square metre is calculated as the city-wide median across samples, not as an average: one expensive apartment should not pull the whole city’s figure up.
Gap for furnishings — median of the unfurnished/furnished price ratio across the same sample. The three-bedroom threshold is not a calculation but an observation: the price below which a three-bedroom bedrooms are hard to find, and the neighbourhoods where they exist at that price.
What the index excludes: short-term rentals, rooms and co-living arrangements. The index covers long-term rental of a whole apartment — the kind of rental people actually move for.
Last updated
Last data update — October 31, 2026. This date is not specified manually: it is taken from the modification time of the file containing the prices. While the numbers are untouched, the date is in place, and the page cannot pass itself off as more recent than reality.
Use the figures in articles, chats and presentations — just include a link to this page. The index is not an offer: it describes the market, not our obligations.
The same data is available in machine-readable format at home.svoy.io/indeks.json — rates for each of the 39 districts, the furnished premium, the three-bedroom threshold and the date updates. Publicly readable from any website, no key required. Calculated from those the same data as this page, so it cannot diverge from it.
Need a breakdown that isn’t here — write to us and we’ll work it out.