Inflation reached 5.6% in August — and rents paid rose 8.4% on a year earlier

Geostat, the national statistics office, published its August figures on 3 September 2026. Consumer prices rose 0.4% during the month and 5.6% compared with August 2025. The two biggest contributors to the annual figure were transport, which added about 1.8 percentage points, and food and non-alcoholic drinks, which added about 1.7 points.

Transport prices were up 15.2% year on year. The cost of running a private vehicle rose 20.8% and transport services 12.8%. Food rose 5% overall, with fish and seafood up 18.1%, meat up 9.8% and bread and cereals up 7.1%, while fruit and grapes were 6.1% cheaper than a year ago.

The group covering housing, water, electricity and gas was up 8.5% and added about 0.8 points to annual inflation. Inside it, electricity, gas and other fuels rose 10.3%, maintenance and repair of dwellings 8.7%, and actual rents paid 8.4%. The rent figure is a consumer-price measure of what tenants pay, which is not the same thing as the asking rents shown on listing sites — the two can move differently, so it is worth looking at both before setting or negotiating a rent.

For landlords, running costs — repairs and utilities where the owner pays them — are rising at roughly the same pace as rents, so an unchanged rent is a real-terms cut. For tenants, the 8.4% figure is a fair reference point when a renewal comes with a much larger increase. For guesthouse and tour businesses, a 15% jump in transport prices feeds directly into transfer and fuel costs, which is worth reflecting in next season's prices rather than absorbing.