How far has supply actually fallen?

The official figure for September 2026 is 46,711 available holiday lets, as the Instituto Canario de Estadística (ISTAC, the Canarian statistics institute) reported on Friday. That is one per cent fewer than in September 2025.

Demand remained high even so, with 41,833 properties receiving at least one booking.

The decline also shows up in other months. In August 2026, ISTAC recorded 40,837 available holiday lets, 14% fewer than in August 2025.

For April 2026, ISTAC reported 42,367 advertised properties, compared with 43,381 in March. That was a monthly drop of 1,014 properties, as Canarias Ahora reported.

Where are most holiday lets disappearing?

The distribution remains uneven, as the ISTAC data show. Tenerife accounts for 41% of the total Canarian stock, while Gran Canaria makes up 21%.

Lanzarote holds 17% of available properties and Fuerteventura 14%. Together these four islands cover 93% of the supply.

For holidaymakers in the south of Gran Canaria or Tenerife, that means the choice on platforms can become noticeably smaller. A reliable statement about future booking prices cannot be drawn from the ISTAC figures alone.

Why is supply falling?

The restrictions include reserving 90% of properties for residential use. New homes may not be let to tourists during their first ten years.

Owners who already let legally can rely on a transitional arrangement under certain conditions. For certain cases, the deadline for submitting the communication runs until 31 July 2027.

What does the smaller supply mean for residents looking for a home?

A fall in platform listings does not automatically mean that the same properties are moving into the long-term rental market.

Nor is there evidence that the tighter supply has already led to lower residential rents. El Día reported on the housing market on 22 October 2026 without confirming such an effect.

The situation therefore remains unclear for residents. Anyone hoping for a rapid easing of rents will not yet find a reliable basis in the ISTAC data.

How should holidaymakers approach booking?

Anyone wanting to book a holiday let for the coming months should start searching earlier than before. Occupancy remains high: 95.63% of advertised properties received at least one booking in September.

In practice that means the legally offered stock is almost fully booked. Choice can become tight, especially in the high-demand areas in the south of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

The figures do not guarantee rising prices. But anyone who wants flexible dates or a specific location has less room for manoeuvre when supply is smaller.

Which questions remain open?

It remains unclear why the published September figures differ from one another. The Libertad Digital report gives 46,711 properties, while other monthly ISTAC values are in some cases well below that.

It is also unclear how many former holiday lets have actually entered the long-term rental market. Neither ISTAC nor the regional government had published a figure on that by Friday.

For landlords, the specific licensing, registration and transitional deadlines remain to be checked in the applicable law and the national platform rules.