La Palma holiday lets fall 24.5% as 53 homes reach volcano-hit families

The supply of holiday lets on La Palma (houses and flats rented by the night to tourists) has fallen by 24.5% in a year, the steepest drop in the Canary Islands. At the same time, 53 homes for families who lost their houses to the lava in 2021 are being handed over or entering their final stretch in Los Llanos de Aridane. Both point to the same problem: the Aridane Valley is short of homes.

One in four holiday lets gone

La Palma's decline is well above the regional average of around 15%, according to ISTAC, the Canary Islands statistics office. The trigger is the regional holiday-rental law, in force since December 2025. On La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, no more than 20% of the homes in any municipality may be used for tourist lets, compared with 10% on the other islands. Many owners have pulled out because they cannot meet the requirements or the paperwork no longer pays.

Five years after the volcano

The Tajogaite eruption destroyed more than 1,300 homes in Los Llanos, El Paso and Tazacorte. Hundreds of families are still living in container or timber units. The 53 two- and three-bedroom homes in Los Llanos cost 10.3 million euros, funded by the Canary Islands Government and built by the Cabildo, and are earmarked for those families. It is real progress, but the waiting list remains: around 500 families secured permission to rebuild on their own, and many others still have no solution.

What it means for each neighbour

For a volcano victim still waiting for a home, these 53 units are the first sizeable public delivery since the eruption; it is worth checking that you are on the register of affected residents and where you sit in the queue. For anyone who used to let to tourists, the business is now more demanding: less competition, but compulsory requirements. For anyone hunting a long-term rental, the news is bittersweet. A recent report puts typical rents in Los Llanos at 600 to 800 euros a month, double the pre-2021 level, and across the Canaries ordinary rents have not fallen despite thousands of tourist homes leaving the market.

What to expect

Trimming tourist supply does not guarantee those homes will become residential rentals: many are sold or left empty. What shifts the market is public housing. Worth watching: how quickly the 53 homes and the next schemes are delivered, and the rent subsidies for affected families. For them, the advice is simple: keep paperwork up to date and ask the Cabildo about allocation lists.