Empirical Urban Economics & Spatial Research

The Price of Accessibility in Spain

An analysis of 100 municipal housing markets covering 236,970 resale-flat transactions, examining the relationship between neighbourhood accessibility and property prices.

BarrioRadar Research Team
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The Price of Accessibility in Spain: Empirical Analysis of 100 Municipal Housing Markets Covering 236,970 Transactions — BarrioRadar Research
Comparing neighbourhood accessibility scores with official Notariado resale-flat transaction prices per square metre across Spain's 100 largest municipalities.
236,970
Resale Flat Transactions
Notary transactions underpinning 100 municipal price benchmarks (214,101 price-informed)
+13.2%
Associated Price Difference
Average resale-flat €/m² difference per 10 points in BarrioRadar Score
29.2%
Transit Explanatory Power
Strongest standalone relationship with housing prices among the four accessibility dimensions
100
Municipalities Evaluated
Spain's 100 largest municipalities, home to 22.6M residents and 2.90M address portals

Executive Summary: Accessibility and Housing Prices Across 100 Municipalities

Across Spain's 100 largest municipalities, places with better everyday accessibility tend to have higher resale-flat prices per square metre — but accessibility explains only part of the enormous differences between local housing markets.

Municipalities with similar resale-flat prices can have dramatically different BarrioRadar Scores — and municipalities with similar scores can have dramatically different prices.

This study evaluates 250m micro-grids across 2,904,985 cadastral address portals linked with official transaction records from the Consejo General del Notariado, analysing 100 municipality-level price observations covering 236,970 resale-flat transactions (214,101 price-informed) across Spain's 100 largest municipalities.

Understanding the housing metric (€/m²)

This study analyses official resale-flat transaction price per square metre (€/m²) from deeds registered by the Consejo General del Notariado. It reflects actual closed purchase prices for apartments, not asking prices on property portals, total purchase budgets, or household affordability.

+13.2%
Accessibility and price move together
Across the 100 municipalities studied, a 10-point higher BarrioRadar Score is associated with approximately 13.2% higher resale-flat €/m².
Transit stands out
Transport shows the strongest standalone relationship
Of the four accessibility dimensions studied, Transit has the strongest standalone relationship with resale-flat prices.
Price isn't accessibility
Similar prices can mean very different accessibility
Municipalities with similar resale-flat prices can have dramatically different BarrioRadar Scores — and municipalities with similar scores can have dramatically different prices.

Real-World Municipal Comparisons: What This Means in Practice

Case 1 • Matching Accessibility
Almost identical measured accessibility. Very different housing prices.
Donostia / San Sebastián Score 52.3 • €6,337/m²
Manresa Score 51.8 • €1,355/m²
Measured Contrast Δ 0.5 pts • +368% price (+€4,982/m²)
The measured accessibility difference is just 0.5 points, yet resale flats in San Sebastián trade at +368% higher price per square metre (+€4,982/m²) than in Manresa.
Case 2 • Matching Price per m²
Similar price per square metre. Very different measured accessibility.
Sant Cugat del Vallès €4,925/m² • Score 29.8
Barcelona €4,753/m² • Score 76.3
Measured Contrast 3.6% price spread • +46.5 pts accessibility
Prices differ by only 3.6% (€171/m²), but Barcelona delivers a 46.5-point higher everyday accessibility score than Sant Cugat.
Primary Statistical Model (For Researchers & Econometricians)

The primary specification is an unadjusted cross-sectional log-linear model: ln(precio_m2) = α + β · (Score) + ε estimated across N = 100 municipal observations. Statistical inference is validated using heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors (MacKinnon & White HC3: SE = 0.002185, t = 5.67, p = 1.34 × 10⁻⁷, 95% CI: [0.00806, 0.01673]). The model accounts for 21.3% of price variation across the cohort (R² = 0.2129, Adjusted R² = 0.2048). Retransformation uses geometric model-median predictions; Duan's non-parametric smearing factor across residuals is 1.0678.

Section 1 • 100-Municipality Pattern Share this chart

1. The 100-Municipality Pattern: Better Accessibility Tends to Mean Higher Prices

Examining the empirical relationship between address-weighted BarrioRadar Master Scores and official Notariado transaction prices per square metre across Spain's 100 largest municipalities.

How to read this chart:

Each circle represents one of Spain's 100 largest municipalities. The upward trend line illustrates that among the 100 municipalities studied, those with higher everyday accessibility scores generally have higher resale-flat prices per square metre.

Sample Municipality Observations (Top 12 Ranked by Accessibility) View all 100 municipalities in the complete dataset ↓
Rank Municipality Province Master Score Transit Resale €/m² Transactions Fitted €/m² Diff vs Trend (%)
#1 Barcelona Barcelona 76.3 81.0 €4,753/m² 15,122 €3,585/m² +32.6%
#2 Santa Coloma de Gramenet Barcelona 67.7 59.7 €2,417/m² 1,245 €3,223/m² -25.0%
#3 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Barcelona 67.4 69.1 €2,804/m² 3,343 €3,211/m² -12.7%
#4 Madrid Madrid 64.5 69.8 €5,274/m² 36,347 €3,097/m² +70.3%
#5 València València/Valencia 60.6 71.4 €2,679/m² 8,730 €2,951/m² -9.2%
#6 Barakaldo Bizkaia 60.6 43.2 €2,895/m² 1,211 €2,951/m² -1.9%
#7 Salamanca Salamanca 59.2 61.3 €1,819/m² 2,040 €2,900/m² -37.3%
#8 Sevilla Sevilla 58.2 63.2 €2,342/m² 7,353 €2,865/m² -18.2%
#9 Pamplona/Iruña Navarra 57.3 65.3 €2,866/m² 1,710 €2,833/m² +1.2%
#10 Granada Granada 56.1 69.2 €1,934/m² 2,984 €2,791/m² -30.7%
#11 A Coruña A Coruña 55.6 66.4 €2,777/m² 2,063 €2,774/m² +0.1%
#12 Cádiz Cádiz 55.4 36.7 €2,682/m² 1,104 €2,767/m² -3.1%
Statistical Finding: Across Spain's 100 largest municipalities, the primary log-linear OLS model indicates that each additional 10 points of address-weighted accessibility is associated with a +13.19% difference in resale-flat transaction price per square metre (heteroskedasticity-robust HC3 95% CI: +8.39% to +18.21%, p = 1.34 × 10⁻⁷). This baseline model accounts for 21.3% of cross-municipality price variance (R² = 0.213).
Section 2 • Four Dimensions Share this chart

2. Which Parts of Accessibility Matter Most to Property Prices?

Comparing standalone log-linear regression models across BarrioRadar's four accessibility pillars reveals that public transit connectivity exhibits the strongest statistical relationship with resale property prices.

How to read this chart:

This compares how much of the price variation across municipalities is explained by each of BarrioRadar's four accessibility dimensions on its own. Public Transit leads at 29.2%, followed by Family & Education (18.0%), Lifestyle & Dining (9.3%), and Daily Essentials (8.4%).

Dimension N Pearson r Spearman ρ R² (Log-Price Variance) Regression Slope (β) Δ% per +10 Pts 95% Confidence Interval p-value
Public Transit 93 0.5064 0.5198 0.2918 (29.2%) 0.0107 +11.28% [0.338, 0.644] < 0.001
Family & Education 100 0.3878 0.4072 0.1797 (18.0%) 0.0126 +13.38% [0.207, 0.543] < 0.001
Lifestyle & Dining 100 0.2615 0.2759 0.0931 (9.3%) 0.0071 +7.38% [0.069, 0.435] 0.002
Daily Essentials 100 0.2388 0.2576 0.0843 (8.4%) 0.0078 +8.17% [0.044, 0.416] 0.003
Methodological Note on R²: The R² value (29.2% for transit across N = 93 municipalities, 8.4% for daily essentials across N = 100) measures the proportion of cross-municipality log-price variation accounted for by each standalone model. It does not measure the percentage of an individual home buyer's purchase price determined by accessibility.
Section 3 • Matching Accessibility Link to this finding

3. Similar Accessibility, Very Different Prices

Municipalities with nearly identical neighbourhood accessibility scores frequently trade at vastly different price levels, demonstrating that accessibility is only one component of municipal housing markets.

Municipality A Score A Price A (€/m²) Municipality B Score B Price B (€/m²) Score Diff Price Spread (€/m²)
Donostia/San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa) 52.3 €6,337/m² Manresa (Barcelona) 51.8 €1,355/m² 0.5 pts +€4,982/m² (+367.8%)
Granada (Granada) 56.1 €1,934/m² Donostia/San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa) 52.3 €6,337/m² 3.8 pts +€4,403/m² (+227.7%)
Donostia/San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa) 52.3 €6,337/m² Zaragoza (Zaragoza) 49.1 €2,044/m² 3.2 pts +€4,292/m² (+210.0%)
Donostia/San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa) 52.3 €6,337/m² Girona (Girona) 48.6 €2,387/m² 3.7 pts +€3,950/m² (+165.5%)
Cáceres (Cáceres) 30.2 €1,153/m² Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) 29.8 €4,924/m² 0.4 pts +€3,771/m² (+327.0%)
Donostia/San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa) 52.3 €6,337/m² Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) 52.2 €2,572/m² 0.1 pts +€3,765/m² (+146.4%)
Key Empirical Pair: Donostia / San Sebastián (Score 52.3) and Manresa (Score 51.8) differ by only 0.5 points in overall accessibility, yet resale flats in San Sebastián trade at an average of €6,337/m² compared to €1,355/m² in Manresa—a €4,982/m² spread (+367.8%).
Section 4 • Matching Prices Link to this finding

4. Similar Prices, Very Different Accessibility

At matching price levels per square metre, buyers encounter starkly different neighbourhood accessibility profiles across Spanish urban markets.

Municipality A Price A (€/m²) Score A Municipality B Price B (€/m²) Score B Price Spread Accessibility Difference
Barcelona (Barcelona) €4,753/m² 76.3 Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) €4,924/m² 29.8 €171/m² 46.5 pts
Salamanca (Salamanca) €1,819/m² 59.2 Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz) €1,808/m² 15.1 €12/m² 44.1 pts
Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona) €2,417/m² 67.7 Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña) €2,405/m² 24.7 €12/m² 43.0 pts
Hospitalet de Llobregat, L' (Barcelona) €2,804/m² 67.4 Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Madrid) €2,673/m² 24.9 €131/m² 42.5 pts
Barcelona (Barcelona) €4,753/m² 76.3 Alcobendas (Madrid) €4,654/m² 36.5 €99/m² 39.8 pts
Barakaldo (Bizkaia) €2,895/m² 60.6 Mijas (Málaga) €2,955/m² 22.0 €60/m² 38.6 pts
Pricing Benchmark Observation: At ~€4,750–€4,925/m², Barcelona provides a Master Score of 76.3 (Spain's highest overall accessibility), while nearby Sant Cugat del Vallès delivers a Master Score of 29.8—a gap of 46.5 score points at virtually the same price per square metre.
Section 5 • Differences from the 100-Municipality Pattern Share this chart

5. Where Prices Differ Most from the 100-Municipality Pattern

Measuring divergence from the fitted cross-sectional log-linear regression line highlights which municipal housing markets trade higher or lower than predicted by accessibility alone.

How to read this chart:

Bars to the right (red) show municipalities trading at higher prices per m² than predicted by accessibility alone; bars to the left (blue) show municipalities trading lower than predicted. This reflects broader economic, geographical, and tourism factors rather than accessibility alone.

Top 5 Municipalities Above National Accessibility Trend

Municipality Score Actual €/m² Fitted €/m² Difference (€/m²) Deviation vs Trend (%) Transactions
Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) 29.8 €4,924/m² €2,015/m² +€2,910/m² +144.4% 534
Marbella (Málaga) 21.6 €4,371/m² €1,820/m² +€2,551/m² +140.2% 2,793
Donostia/San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa) 52.3 €6,337/m² €2,663/m² +€3,674/m² +138.0% 1,619
Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) 35.4 €5,018/m² €2,160/m² +€2,858/m² +132.3% 462
Alcobendas (Madrid) 36.5 €4,654/m² €2,189/m² +€2,465/m² +112.6% 903

Top 5 Municipalities Below National Accessibility Trend

Municipality Score Actual €/m² Fitted €/m² Difference (€/m²) Deviation vs Trend (%) Transactions
Manresa (Barcelona) 51.8 €1,355/m² €2,646/m² -€1,292/m² -48.8% 981
Lleida (Lleida) 43.8 €1,338/m² €2,396/m² -€1,059/m² -44.2% 1,824
Cáceres (Cáceres) 30.2 €1,153/m² €2,025/m² -€872/m² -43.0% 1,581
Lugo (Lugo) 27.8 €1,189/m² €1,965/m² -€777/m² -39.5% 958
Albacete (Albacete) 44.3 €1,470/m² €2,411/m² -€941/m² -39.0% 1,637
Residual Interpretation Note: Divergence above or below the national trend reflects unmodelled municipal economic attributes—such as local purchasing power, regional tax regimes, international buyer demand, and physical constraints on new housing construction. This cross-sectional model measures municipal accessibility alone and does not evaluate individual property valuations or pricing efficiency.
Section 6 • Property Types Link to this finding

6. Does the Pattern Change for Houses and New-Builds?

Evaluating accessibility models across four distinct residential property formats reveals notable structural differences between multi-family apartments and single-family houses.

Housing Format N Total Transactions Pearson r Spearman ρ Slope (β) Δ% per +10 Pts R²
Resale Flats 100 236,970 0.4144 0.4571 0.0124 +13.19% 0.2129 (21.3%)
New-Build Flats 99 27,553 0.4749 0.4923 0.0123 +13.08% 0.2433 (24.3%)
Resale Houses 100 29,660 0.3272 0.3788 0.0123 +13.06% 0.1410 (14.1%)
New-Build Houses Sparse Coverage (61/100) 61 2,017 0.2425 0.3011 0.0081 +8.42% 0.0607 (6.1%)
Descriptive Comparison Note: Point estimates were similar across resale flats (β = 0.0124), new-build flats (β = 0.0123), and resale houses (β = 0.0123). By contrast, new-build single-family houses exhibit a lower point estimate (β = 0.0081, R² = 0.061) based on a smaller sample (N = 61 municipalities, 2,017 transactions, with 39 municipalities statistically suppressed due to low sales volume).
Section 7 • Testing the Results Link to this finding

7. Testing the Results: Is the Pattern Driven Only by Madrid and Barcelona?

The positive association remains present after excluding the most influential observations and after excluding Madrid and Barcelona.

Baseline Model (All 100 Municipalities) N = 100
+13.2%
Price difference per +10 score points
Standard unweighted OLS regression on log €/m² across all 100 evaluated municipalities (R² = 0.213, β = 0.0124; HC3 robust 95% CI: +8.4% to +18.2%).
Excluding 4 Influential Points N = 96
+12.7%
Price difference per +10 score points
Excluding Donostia, Madrid, Marbella, and Manresa based on Cook's distance (D > 0.04). R² remains stable at 0.223.
Excluding Madrid & Barcelona N = 98
+11.6%
Price difference per +10 score points
Excluding Spain's two dominant metropolitan centres. The positive association remains statistically significant (R² = 0.161).

Secondary Transaction-Weighted Model (WLS)

In a secondary transaction-weighted sensitivity analysis weighting each municipality by its informed transaction count, the association is estimated at +19.5% per +10 score points (R² = 0.497). The unweighted Top 100 model remains our primary benchmark because the fundamental unit of analysis is the municipality.

Section 8 • Complete Empirical Dataset Link to this finding

Complete 100-Municipality Dataset

The complete cross-sectional dataset combining BarrioRadar v1.1 address-weighted accessibility scores with official Notariado transaction records across Spain's 100 largest municipalities.

Rank Municipality Province Population Master Score Transit Essentials Lifestyle Family Resale €/m² Transactions Fitted €/m² Diff vs Trend (%)
#1 Barcelona Barcelona 1,702,547 76.3 81.0 74.7 82.0 67.9 €4,753/m² 15,122 €3,585/m² +32.6%
#2 Santa Coloma de Gramenet Barcelona 121,203 67.7 59.7 77.3 76.1 58.2 €2,417/m² 1,245 €3,223/m² -25.0%
#3 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Barcelona 279,993 67.4 69.1 73.1 74.2 51.8 €2,804/m² 3,343 €3,211/m² -12.7%
#4 Madrid Madrid 3,416,771 64.5 69.8 65.0 61.8 61.4 €5,274/m² 36,347 €3,097/m² +70.3%
#5 València València/Valencia 825,948 60.6 71.4 64.5 63.3 38.9 €2,679/m² 8,730 €2,951/m² -9.2%
#6 Barakaldo Bizkaia 101,984 60.6 43.2 68.2 81.6 60.7 €2,895/m² 1,211 €2,951/m² -1.9%
#7 Salamanca Salamanca 144,866 59.2 61.3 63.8 62.8 48.4 €1,819/m² 2,040 €2,900/m² -37.3%
#8 Sevilla Sevilla 687,488 58.2 63.2 63.5 59.9 44.0 €2,342/m² 7,353 €2,865/m² -18.2%
#9 Pamplona/Iruña Navarra 207,777 57.3 65.3 67.8 58.9 29.4 €2,866/m² 1,710 €2,833/m² +1.2%
#10 Granada Granada 232,717 56.1 69.2 64.8 54.2 27.8 €1,934/m² 2,984 €2,791/m² -30.7%
#11 A Coruña A Coruña 249,261 55.6 66.4 65.7 60.0 24.1 €2,777/m² 2,063 €2,774/m² +0.1%
#12 Cádiz Cádiz 110,914 55.4 36.7 77.9 73.1 43.0 €2,682/m² 1,104 €2,767/m² -3.1%
#13 Badalona Barcelona 227,083 54.2 37.8 72.4 69.2 47.3 €2,667/m² 2,504 €2,726/m² -2.2%
#14 Cornellà de Llobregat Barcelona 91,589 53.6 70.3 59.0 55.2 22.8 €2,774/m² 1,011 €2,706/m² +2.5%
#15 Donostia/San Sebastián Gipuzkoa 189,093 52.3 62.2 55.8 51.8 38.0 €6,337/m² 1,619 €2,663/m² +138.0%
#16 Torrejón de Ardoz Madrid 140,626 52.2 45.7 55.2 58.6 57.9 €2,572/m² 1,139 €2,659/m² -3.3%
#17 Manresa Barcelona 80,201 51.8 58.6 62.2 52.5 28.8 €1,355/m² 981 €2,646/m² -48.8%
#18 Zaragoza Zaragoza 686,986 49.1 47.4 54.8 51.3 46.1 €2,044/m² 7,015 €2,559/m² -20.1%
#19 Girona Girona 107,032 48.6 42.0 53.4 59.0 49.7 €2,387/m² 992 €2,543/m² -6.2%
#20 Mataró Barcelona 131,798 45.9 54.9 51.4 47.9 25.0 €2,371/m² 1,546 €2,460/m² -3.6%
#21 Bilbao Bizkaia 348,089 45.7 24.1 69.9 67.9 34.5 €3,543/m² 3,818 €2,454/m² +44.4%
#22 Móstoles Madrid 214,006 45.0 54.5 41.7 42.4 47.7 €2,527/m² 1,625 €2,432/m² +3.9%
#23 Burgos Burgos 175,895 44.7 48.5 49.5 48.7 35.5 €1,834/m² 1,913 €2,423/m² -24.3%
#24 Fuengirola Málaga 85,859 44.3 29.6 55.9 71.0 34.5 €3,492/m² 1,303 €2,411/m² +44.8%
#25 Albacete Albacete 174,137 44.3 — 46.1 47.5 38.2 €1,470/m² 1,637 €2,411/m² -39.0%
#26 Lleida Lleida 144,739 43.8 41.2 50.5 51.1 35.7 €1,338/m² 1,824 €2,396/m² -44.2%
#27 Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife 211,359 43.6 59.0 46.1 41.7 26.3 €2,213/m² 1,470 €2,391/m² -7.4%
#28 Valladolid Valladolid 300,618 43.3 50.4 46.4 48.4 31.7 €1,676/m² 3,312 €2,382/m² -29.6%
#29 Alacant/Alicante Alacant/Alicante 358,720 43.2 53.5 42.9 44.0 33.6 €1,990/m² 5,238 €2,379/m² -16.3%
#30 Fuenlabrada Madrid 190,790 42.8 44.3 50.4 44.0 35.2 €2,478/m² 1,449 €2,367/m² +4.7%
#31 Getafe Madrid 189,906 42.6 47.4 48.2 35.7 40.0 €2,951/m² 1,455 €2,361/m² +25.0%
#32 Alcalá de Henares Madrid 200,702 42.4 47.9 41.5 40.3 45.9 €2,429/m² 1,954 €2,355/m² +3.1%
#33 Vitoria-Gasteiz Araba/Álava 257,968 42.4 41.7 45.6 55.9 32.2 €2,744/m² 2,489 €2,355/m² +16.5%
#34 Sabadell Barcelona 222,177 41.6 41.9 55.8 38.8 30.0 €2,167/m² 2,586 €2,332/m² -7.1%
#35 Leganés Madrid 194,084 40.4 58.4 42.2 30.5 29.3 €2,889/m² 1,448 €2,298/m² +25.8%
#36 Coslada Madrid 80,760 40.2 26.2 54.0 50.6 44.4 €2,812/m² 635 €2,292/m² +22.7%
#37 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas 380,436 39.6 52.0 43.9 32.6 30.2 €2,346/m² 3,218 €2,275/m² +3.1%
#38 Alcorcón Madrid 173,625 39.5 54.1 40.4 28.8 37.3 €2,994/m² 1,194 €2,272/m² +31.8%
#39 San Fernando Cádiz 93,645 38.8 30.6 60.0 39.6 28.8 €1,743/m² 953 €2,252/m² -22.6%
#40 Tarragona Tarragona 141,151 38.4 41.1 47.7 42.8 24.0 €1,714/m² 1,871 €2,241/m² -23.5%
#41 Palma Illes Balears 431,521 38.4 41.1 47.3 47.3 20.3 €3,950/m² 3,800 €2,241/m² +76.2%
#42 Sant Boi de Llobregat Barcelona 84,831 38.0 17.4 60.4 58.9 35.5 €2,786/m² 875 €2,230/m² +24.9%
#43 Logroño La Rioja 151,164 37.8 24.2 46.7 58.7 39.1 €1,643/m² 1,959 €2,225/m² -26.1%
#44 San Sebastián de los Reyes Madrid 94,969 37.4 47.0 31.3 29.0 49.7 €3,558/m² 721 €2,214/m² +60.7%
#45 Alcobendas Madrid 121,373 36.5 49.1 29.6 31.6 44.2 €4,654/m² 903 €2,189/m² +112.6%
#46 Terrassa Barcelona 228,708 36.4 34.3 48.5 34.3 34.6 €2,086/m² 2,964 €2,186/m² -4.6%
#47 Benalmádena Málaga 77,654 36.2 36.6 43.8 42.7 27.2 €3,142/m² 1,430 €2,181/m² +44.1%
#48 Málaga Málaga 591,637 36.0 49.9 45.4 28.6 15.6 €3,039/m² 4,429 €2,176/m² +39.7%
#49 Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid 89,378 35.4 54.1 32.2 24.7 34.8 €5,018/m² 462 €2,160/m² +132.3%
#50 Oviedo Asturias 220,543 34.9 45.3 38.5 39.2 21.0 €1,812/m² 2,982 €2,146/m² -15.6%
#51 Gandia València/Valencia 80,095 34.2 29.0 39.1 47.0 34.1 €1,487/m² 1,491 €2,128/m² -30.1%
#52 Castelló de la Plana/Castellón de la Plana Castelló/Castellón 180,379 33.8 45.6 36.7 35.9 20.4 €1,301/m² 1,974 €2,117/m² -38.6%
#53 Toledo Toledo 86,526 33.1 41.1 37.7 36.4 20.0 €1,687/m² 777 €2,099/m² -19.6%
#54 Valdemoro Madrid 83,507 32.4 37.2 29.6 30.1 43.0 €2,190/m² 809 €2,081/m² +5.2%
#55 Jaén Jaén 112,074 31.9 12.2 53.3 50.8 31.1 €1,279/m² 1,349 €2,068/m² -38.2%
#56 Santander Cantabria 174,101 31.7 24.2 49.5 36.3 28.2 €2,859/m² 1,916 €2,063/m² +38.6%
#57 Parla Madrid 134,833 30.9 35.6 33.6 21.2 40.1 €1,995/m² 1,195 €2,042/m² -2.3%
#58 San Cristóbal de La Laguna Santa Cruz de Tenerife 160,258 30.3 48.2 34.5 23.3 15.9 €1,861/m² 846 €2,027/m² -8.2%
#59 Cáceres Cáceres 96,441 30.2 40.5 41.7 25.7 10.1 €1,153/m² 1,581 €2,025/m² -43.0%
#60 Estepona Málaga 78,413 30.1 — 33.9 30.2 24.4 €3,281/m² 1,985 €2,022/m² +62.3%
#61 Dos Hermanas Sevilla 140,430 30.0 27.6 44.3 33.4 21.6 €1,354/m² 1,683 €2,020/m² -33.0%
#62 Las Rozas de Madrid Madrid 98,590 29.8 58.0 23.1 19.7 25.6 €3,908/m² 717 €2,015/m² +94.0%
#63 Sant Cugat del Vallès Barcelona 98,621 29.8 41.9 34.3 29.4 17.5 €4,924/m² 534 €2,015/m² +144.4%
#64 Torrent València/Valencia 89,401 29.8 26.7 35.3 44.0 22.5 €1,453/m² 866 €2,015/m² -27.9%
#65 Ourense Ourense 104,891 28.3 28.1 33.7 35.5 24.3 €1,368/m² 911 €1,978/m² -30.8%
#66 Reus Tarragona 109,930 28.2 5.0 53.5 51.0 27.5 €1,453/m² 1,330 €1,975/m² -26.4%
#67 Lugo Lugo 99,482 27.8 21.9 41.2 37.5 18.9 €1,189/m² 958 €1,965/m² -39.5%
#68 Almería Almería 202,675 27.6 18.1 42.8 38.7 25.8 €1,570/m² 2,167 €1,961/m² -19.9%
#69 Roquetas de Mar Almería 109,204 26.7 27.6 34.7 28.9 26.5 €1,438/m² 2,003 €1,939/m² -25.8%
#70 León León 122,243 25.8 5.0 47.4 49.5 25.6 €1,398/m² 1,576 €1,917/m² -27.1%
#71 Rivas-Vaciamadrid Madrid 101,949 24.9 21.1 33.2 30.8 33.0 €2,673/m² 435 €1,896/m² +41.0%
#72 Santiago de Compostela A Coruña 99,536 24.7 24.1 35.3 29.3 19.1 €2,405/m² 554 €1,891/m² +27.1%
#73 Pontevedra Pontevedra 83,077 24.6 40.7 29.1 19.8 13.7 €1,918/m² 553 €1,889/m² +1.6%
#74 Rubí Barcelona 81,532 24.2 19.2 31.1 30.3 27.3 €2,203/m² 776 €1,880/m² +17.2%
#75 Gijón Asturias 268,561 23.8 28.6 29.9 26.6 15.1 €2,168/m² 3,002 €1,870/m² +15.9%
#76 Vigo Pontevedra 293,977 23.3 20.8 37.0 25.9 19.2 €2,237/m² 1,850 €1,859/m² +20.4%
#77 Telde Las Palmas 102,867 22.3 — 26.2 13.5 25.2 €1,660/m² 568 €1,836/m² -9.6%
#78 Mijas Málaga 93,302 22.0 23.3 27.7 28.2 19.2 €2,955/m² 2,054 €1,829/m² +61.6%
#79 Huelva Huelva 143,290 21.9 10.3 49.7 30.5 12.3 €1,431/m² 1,605 €1,827/m² -21.7%
#80 Ceuta Ceuta 83,229 21.7 — 29.3 15.5 16.3 €2,010/m² 598 €1,822/m² +10.3%
#81 Marbella Málaga 159,000 21.6 — 27.6 23.9 10.4 €4,371/m² 2,793 €1,820/m² +140.2%
#82 Torrevieja Alacant/Alicante 94,803 20.9 6.2 40.7 43.3 17.9 €2,031/m² 4,739 €1,804/m² +12.5%
#83 Vélez-Málaga Málaga 85,990 20.6 15.9 34.1 26.8 17.5 €2,294/m² 766 €1,798/m² +27.6%
#84 Melilla Melilla 85,811 19.8 — 29.5 17.4 7.9 €1,955/m² 445 €1,780/m² +9.9%
#85 Elx/Elche Alacant/Alicante 243,128 19.4 11.7 30.7 29.5 16.9 €1,372/m² 2,369 €1,771/m² -22.5%
#86 Talavera de la Reina Toledo 84,738 19.0 5.0 35.0 33.2 18.7 €1,123/m² 1,126 €1,762/m² -36.2%
#87 Arona Santa Cruz de Tenerife 86,624 18.9 31.8 23.5 18.9 11.7 €3,253/m² 1,328 €1,760/m² +84.8%
#88 Córdoba Córdoba 322,811 18.5 8.4 34.4 26.0 18.8 €1,607/m² 4,087 €1,751/m² -8.3%
#89 Algeciras Cádiz 124,978 18.4 13.7 33.6 21.3 16.7 €1,216/m² 1,153 €1,749/m² -30.5%
#90 Chiclana de la Frontera Cádiz 89,794 15.1 9.3 29.5 22.5 13.1 €1,808/m² 681 €1,679/m² +7.7%
#91 Guadalajara Guadalajara 90,909 15.0 5.0 23.8 27.4 26.2 €1,694/m² 766 €1,677/m² +1.0%
#92 El Puerto de Santa María Cádiz 89,960 14.7 14.1 25.4 17.4 11.4 €2,151/m² 834 €1,671/m² +28.7%
#93 El Ejido Almería 90,135 14.3 12.1 25.2 15.7 21.4 €1,081/m² 1,357 €1,663/m² -35.0%
#94 Badajoz Badajoz 150,570 13.3 5.0 32.8 19.9 9.3 €1,437/m² 1,590 €1,642/m² -12.5%
#95 Murcia Murcia 474,617 12.9 11.3 23.6 13.6 12.6 €1,446/m² 4,508 €1,634/m² -11.5%
#96 Cartagena Murcia 219,777 12.3 5.0 30.1 18.7 11.2 €1,449/m² 2,168 €1,622/m² -10.7%
#97 Orihuela Alacant/Alicante 83,720 11.9 6.2 23.0 20.8 12.5 €2,127/m² 2,449 €1,614/m² +31.8%
#98 Jerez de la Frontera Cádiz 213,688 11.4 10.0 23.7 17.7 8.4 €1,472/m² 1,989 €1,604/m² -8.2%
#99 Molina de Segura Murcia 77,493 11.2 — 11.9 8.8 12.6 €1,009/m² 672 €1,600/m² -36.9%
#100 Lorca Murcia 98,334 9.9 5.0 16.7 17.2 12.4 €1,109/m² 511 €1,574/m² -29.6%
Section 9 • Methodology & Data Provenance Link to this finding

Methodology, Data Provenance & Limitations

Detailed technical documentation of data sources, geographic joins, econometric specifications, and analytical limitations.

1. Official Real Estate Transactions • Consejo General del Notariado

Property transaction metrics are derived from Consejo General del Notariado. Mandatory source attribution: Según el Portal Estadístico del Notariado, desarrollado por el Consejo General del Notariado.

The primary metric evaluates resale urban flats (clase_finca_urbana_id = 14, tipo_construccion_id = 9). The reported precio_m2 represents an aggregate arithmetic measure computed from 214,101 informed transaction records out of 236,970 total represented transactions, rather than a median. Observations where transaction sample sizes fall below threshold (N < 10) are subject to official statistical suppression and are treated strictly as missing values.

2. Territorial Cohort Definition

The study cohort comprises Spain's 100 largest municipalities by official resident population according to the INE Padrón Municipal (ranging from Madrid with 3,422,447 residents to Soria with 40,404 residents). Together, these 100 municipalities account for 22,646,615 residents (47.2% of Spain's total population) and 2,904,985 cadastral address portals across 96,761 evaluated 250m grid cells.

3. BarrioRadar Scoring Model (v1.1) & Geographic Weighting

Accessibility scores are calculated using the BarrioRadar v1.1 scoring engine across uniform 250m × 250m grid cells, combining GTFS scheduled transit timetables (30%), daily essentials (30%), lifestyle venues (20%), and family amenities (20%). To represent where residents actually live rather than empty territory, municipal aggregate scores are weighted by CartoCiudad cadastral address portals.

4. Econometric Specification, Robust Inference & Retransformation

The primary regression specification is log-linear: ln(precio_m2) = α + β · (Score) + ε estimated across N = 100 municipal observations. Statistical inference is validated using heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors (MacKinnon & White HC3: SE = 0.002185, t = 5.67, p = 1.34 × 10⁻⁷, 95% CI: [0.00806, 0.01673]). The percentage price association per 10 score points is computed as (exp(10 · β) - 1) × 100%, yielding +13.19% (HC3 95% CI: +8.39% to +18.21%).

Fitted €/m² values in tables and visualisations represent geometric model-median predictions (exp(α + β · Score)). For reference, Duan's non-parametric smearing factor across model residuals is 1.0678, yielding a smeared sample conditional mean prediction of €2,338/m² (matching sample actual mean €2,336/m²).

Association does not imply causation: Municipal property prices may also reflect factors not modelled in this study, including household income, employment structure, housing supply constraints, geographical boundaries, tourism, coastal proximity, foreign demand, and individual property physical characteristics.

How to Cite This Study

If referencing this dataset or research in academic research, journalistic reporting, or policy publications, please cite as:

BarrioRadar (2026). The Price of Accessibility in Spain: An Empirical Analysis of 100 Municipal Housing Markets Covering 236,970 Transactions. BarrioRadar Location Intelligence Research. https://www.barrioradar.com/research/price-of-accessibility/

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