Spain’s elderly care market is growing. Demand is rising, regional provision is uneven, and private care fees are strong, especially in newer facilities. With investors, developers, operators and advisors recognising the depth and breadth of opportunity in Spain, we set about researching the market.
After months of data-gathering, collaboration and a successful beta programme, Carterwood Analytics is launching in Spain at the end of February.
In this blog, we share a first look at our new report: Demographics, pricing, and occupancy – Spain’s elderly care home market, describe why we’re entering this market, and introduce Carterwood Analytics – Espana.
Bringing Carterwood’s expertise to Spain
For over fifteen years, we’ve helped operators, investors, developers and advisors navigate the elderly care market in the UK with confidence and clarity. Our expansion into Spain builds on that track record.
Spain is a highly active development market for elderly care. It is attracting significant investment from within Spain, as well as from across Europe and the US.
To better understand the market’s unique needs, we undertook a comprehensive research and development programme in Spain. The result is a robust and highly differentiated Spanish dataset to help investors, operators, developers and advisors supercharge decision-making.
Research highlights
In our new research report Demographics, pricing, and occupancy – Spain’s elderly care home market, we reveal how population, provision, and pricing intersect in Spain’s fast-evolving market. Below, we unpack several examples from this report that demonstrate why Spain is attracting increasing attention and why we believe now is the right moment to support the sector with high-quality data.
Market context: Spain’s ageing population and growing demand
10.2 million people in Spain are currently aged 65+, rising to 14.3 million by 2039. The 75+ and 85+ cohorts are expanding most quickly and the old-age dependency ratio is already close to 1 older person per 3 working-age adults, and it’s set to climb further.
Understanding where these cohorts are concentrated and at what pace they are growing is central to a successful market strategy.
Coverage rates: highlighting regional opportunities
Our coverage rate analysis explores how well specific areas are meeting need for elderly care beds. Where an area has a high coverage rate, this means that there is a high proportion of care homes in the area managing need already. Our research shows substantial regional variation, and the result is an uneven distribution of capacity — and a signal that opportunity will differ sharply by province.
Private Pay Pricing: quality matters
Our analysis of private fees reveals a market where scale matters: The five largest operators consistently hold the highest private-pay pricing. However, scale alone does not explain pricing power. Newer homes, regardless of operator size, achieve meaningfully higher fees, and homes opened in 2025 show a distinctive uplift compared with older stock.
This suggests an increasingly two-speed market: legacy homes holding stable prices, while modern stock sets new expectations.
Occupancy levels: meeting underlying demand
Occupancy levels across Spain’s private care home market are very strong: Average occupancy across our sample stands at 93.6%. Our findings around market context, pricing, occupancy levels and regional variations are analysed in full in our Demographics, pricing, and occupancy – Spain’s elderly care home market report, which is free to download.
Download report: Demographics, pricing, and occupancy – Spain’s elderly care home market
Beyond the report: Launching Carterwood Analytics – España
As well as compiling our report, we’ve been busy preparing Carterwood Analytics – España for launch later in February.
Our mission is to bring our market-leading data and analysis to all the geographies where investors, developers, operators and advisors are active. Our European growth means we can add value to our existing partnerships and supercharge decision-making across the wider sector.
Spanish data, including the unique pricing and occupancy datasets presented in our research, will be available on Carterwood Analytics from the end of February 2026, giving our clients the clarity and confidence to supercharge decision-making in this growing market.
Meet us in Madrid
Come and see us at the VII National Congress on Dependency and Health in Madrid, 16th and 17th February 2026, where you can:
- See live demos of Carterwood Analytics, including our new Spanish dataset
- Speak to our team to discuss the findings, our methodology and how we can support your strategy
If you’re attending, we’d be delighted to meet you. Email us to book a meeting.
