Figures from the Spanish National Statistics Institute have found that Spanish rents rose by 0.7% in April, compared to April 2011.

Rents increased by the highest amount in Catalonia, up by 1.4%, followed by Asturias and the Basque Country, where rates increased by 1.2%. Rents rose by 1.1% in Castilla y Leon and by 1% in Galicia.

Only two areas - Murcia and La Rioja - saw rental values fall, down by -1.2% and -0.3% respectively.

Increases of less than 1% occurred in Andalusia (0.8%), Melilla (0.7%), Ceuta (0.7%), the Canary Islands (0.6%), Extremadura (0.5%), Castilla-La Mancha (0.5%), Cantabria (0.4%), Aragon (0.4%), the Balearic Islands (0.4%), and Madrid (0.2%).

Rents have started to rise as a result of many Spaniards now being financially unable to afford to buy a home, despite falling property values.

However, while some real estate professionals are now predicting that the Spanish property market is starting to recover, there are still more than 2m unsold homes on the market, which represents 7.5% of all Spanish properties. It has been estimated that it could take another 10 years to sell this oversupply of homes.