New-build is where the pressure sits
In the IPV for the second quarter of 2026 the annual rate for Canary new-build is 11.9 per cent, against 7.4 per cent for Spain. ISTAC leads its note of 11 September 2026 with that gap.
On second-hand homes it is the other way round: in the Canaries they rose 11.0 per cent according to the IPV, against 12.9 per cent in Spain. Because second-hand homes account for the largest share of purchases, they pull the overall Canary index down to 11.0 per cent, while Spain reaches 12.2 per cent. That makes the Canaries the fourth autonomous community with the smallest annual increase.
Why new-build in particular
New-build is the scarcest thing on the islands. A study by the developer Metrovacesa dated 28 April 2026 calculates that around 39,000 new households formed over four years against roughly 14,000 homes built — covering about 36 per cent of demand. As a developer Metrovacesa is an interested party, but it names the mechanism that fits the index: limited territory and scarce building land make it hard for supply to respond to population growth.
A second reason lies in the statistics: new-build accounts for only a small share of notarial purchases, and a sub-series built on few transactions swings more widely. The Canary new-build rate ran between 9.6 and 12.6 per cent over the five preceding quarters. The 11.9 per cent is not a breakout but the continuation of a high level.
Why two indices give different numbers
In early July cita.news described the same market with different figures. The basis then was idealista: on 2 July 2026 the portal reported an annual rise of 7.4 per cent for second-hand homes in the Canaries, among the mildest in Spain. The official IPV puts the same quarter and segment at 11.0 per cent for the Canaries and 12.9 per cent for Spain.
Both series can be right, because they measure different things: idealista evaluates the asking prices of current listings, the IPV notarial transaction prices from completed deals. One point matters for readers of the July piece: idealista's 7.4 per cent and the IPV's 7.4 per cent are not the same quantity. In the official index 7.4 per cent stands for Spanish new-build; at idealista it stands for the Canary second-hand market.
47 quarters, not 45
Several Canary media wrote after the INE release that the islands had now seen 45 consecutive quarters of rising prices. Recalculated on the current series it is 47: the last negative annual rate was the third quarter of 2014. INE has rebased the series to 2025 and recalculated it in the process.
Against the previous quarter, the overall Canary index last rose 3.3 per cent, new-build 2.4 per cent and second-hand 3.3 per cent. Within this quarter, then, new-build rose more slowly than second-hand — its lead over the year comes from the quarters before.
What buyers can take from it
The price pressure sits in new-build: anyone choosing between a new home and a comparable second-hand one pays the faster increase there — and more markedly than elsewhere in Spain, where by this index new-build is the calmer part of the market.
The story of the Canaries topping every price table, by contrast, does not hold for this quarter. That is not an all-clear: 11.0 per cent in a year remains steep. And the IPV says nothing about individual islands or municipalities — anyone who wants to know what is being asked in La Oliva needs portal series with square-metre prices.