The Lanzarote Island Council's Territorial Planning Department has claimed that it has removed a total of 896 vacation homes from the tourist market between December 2024 and December 2025. The island's primary institution argues that the drop in available tourist rental properties is due to its inspection and control efforts.
In that period, the number of available vacation homes decreased from 8,209 to 7,313, according to official data from the insular registry and the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics. In contrast, the General Tourism Registry counts 11,086 registered vacation homes as of January 28, 2026, which implies that not all homes registered as tourist accommodations are being marketed every month
Territorial Planning attributes the removal of these homes to, on the one hand, the lack of a classified activities license, which is mandatory for the legal operation of the activity; and on the other, to the fact that they are not registered in the Property Registry, an essential requirement for their regularization as tourist accommodation.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, explained that "the reduction of almost 900 vacation homes in a single year is the result of concrete administrative decisions and not of announcements." Betancort stressed that the island's housing policy is based on applying current regulations and correcting irregular situations that were generating additional pressure on access to housing.
During 2025, there have been simultaneous drops in the registry due to the inspection by the Cabildo of Lanzarote and new registrations, which, according to the Cabildo, confirms that the market continues to generate registrations, but now under a continuous purification process.
For his part, the Minister of Territorial Planning, Jesús Machín, pointed out that "the withdrawal of these homes opens up the possibility for them to be incorporated into the residential market, contributing to alleviating the existing pressure on rentals and purchases, especially in areas with strong competition between tourist and residential use." Machín added that the majority of the withdrawn homes are **concentrated in tourist areas**, where the pressure on the territory and public services is greaterHe also pointed out that "the reduction of vacation homes also contributes to curbing the increase in tourist accommodation without the need to increase the number of visitors, which translates into less pressure on public services, the territory, and the daily lives of the resident population, favoring a greater balance between economic activity and quality of life in Lanzarote."
The Cabildo of Lanzarote has claimed to be the first island in the Canary Islands to "act decisively and continuously in the regulation of tourist accommodation, moving from inaction to direct, measurable, and sustained intervention over time." In this regard, it has highlighted that "this model of action, based on inspection and regulatory compliance, is being observed as a benchmark by the entire archipelago, demonstrating that regulation is possible and effective."
