Spain issued a record 1.3 million energy-efficiency certificates in 2025, yet most of the country’s housing stock still sits in the lower energy bands.
According to data reported by Demócrata, 94.2% of homes in Spain are rated D to G, with rating E accounting for more than two-thirds of the modelled stock.
For foreign buyers and renters looking for energy-efficient property in Spain, the figures are a useful reminder that an apartment’s energy certificate deserves attention alongside location, layout and monthly housing costs.
Energy efficiency in Spain: most homes fall within ratings D to G
Accumin’s State of Energy Efficiency in Spain 2026 report draws on energy certificates registered by Spain’s autonomous communities and communicated to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
Its modelled distribution of Spain’s housing stock is heavily concentrated in the lower bands, with 67.3% of homes rated E and 12.6% rated G.
Higher ratings are much less common, with only 3% of homes rated C, 1.6% rated B, and 1.2% rated A
New-build homes, which generally fall into bands A, B or C, represent only 4% of the country’s total housing stock. This helps explain why energy-efficient homes remain a relatively small part of the overall picture.
Only 39% of homes have a registered energy certificate
The report estimates that just 39% of homes in Spain have a registered energy certificate. Certification is more widespread in apartment buildings than in single-family homes.
Multi-family homes have a certification rate of 51.6%, compared with 17.5% for single-family properties. This difference matters in areas where houses, villas and rural properties form a large share of the market.
Accumin says coverage is concentrated in large cities, areas with high employment activity and coastal areas.
The highest proportions of certified housing stock are in:
Province | Share of certified housing stock |
|---|---|
Madrid | 69% |
Navarra | 58% |
Barcelona | 55.3% |
Málaga | 51.8% |
Girona | 47.6% |
Tarragona | 47.6% |
Asturias | 46.7% |
Cantabria | 46.3% |
La Rioja | 43.5% |
Lleida | 40.6% |
Balearic Islands | 40.1% |
Provinces with a greater share of efficient homes
The report identifies eight provinces where more than 8% of the residential stock is rated A to C:
- Guadalajara
- Navarra
- Toledo
- Soria
- Madrid
- Segovia
- Cuenca
- Ciudad Real
This is a separate measure from certification coverage. It refers to the proportion of homes in the modelled residential stock that fall into the more efficient A-to-C categories.
At the other end of the scale, more than 96% of certificates fall within ratings D to G in Las Palmas, Castellón, Tenerife, Tarragona, Ceuta and Cantabria.
Renovations can reduce energy consumption
Accumin’s analysis indicates that renovation work can reduce energy consumption, though the reported results differ according to the type of home.
For single-family homes, renovations are associated with reductions of 25% to 75% in energy consumption. These works typically lead to an improvement of one or two bands in a property’s energy rating.
In multi-family homes, including flats, reported consumption reductions range from 10% to 50%. However, these improvements do not always result in a higher energy-rating band. The report attributes this to the difficulty of completing comprehensive façade or roof works without an agreement from the homeowners’ association.
A record number of certificates in 2025
Spain issued 1.3 million energy-efficiency certificates in 2025, the highest annual total reported in the source material. That represented a 3% year-on-year increase. Of these certificates, 45% were processed as a result of energy renovations supported by public subsidies and European funds.
The rising number of certificates and renovation-related registrations has not yet shifted the overall national picture. Rating E remains the dominant category, while the A and B bands together account for less than 3% of the modelled housing stock.
Spain’s housing-renovation targets for 2030
Spain must reduce residential final energy consumption by 26,394 GWh by 2030 under the objectives of the Strategy for Energy Rehabilitation in the Building Sector in Spain. The strategy is due to be replaced by the National Building Renovation Plan.
Accumin states that meeting the 2030 objective would require the pace of renovations recorded between 2020 and 2025 to increase by 1.5 times. The report says that achieving a predominantly efficient housing stock and coming close to the 2050 zero-emissions scenario would require a tenfold increase in the current rehabilitation rate.
- Order an Energy Performance Certificate for your property
Source: Demócrata, reporting on Accumin’s State of Energy Efficiency in Spain 2026 report, published 10 September 2026.
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