Spain’s Classifieds: On the Edge of a Revolution

Overlooked for a long time, the Spanish classifieds market could be on the brink of a complete transformation in its competitive landscape. Following the sale of the local giant Idealista in 2024, its follower in real estate and the number one in auto and employment, Adevinta, is expected to change hands in the coming quarters. Other major local players already anticipated moves with Vocento Pisos.com sold on March 19, 2025 to Italian giant Immobiliare. Joreca examines the dynamics of the four major markets and the key local players in the world's seventh-largest classifieds market.

A Growing and Promising Market

As the fourth-largest economy in GDP and population in the European Union, Spain boasts a particularly significant classifieds market. Focusing on real estate and auto, which are the main revenue drivers in this sector, Spain is on par with Italy, despite being less populous and having a smaller GDP. When adding other major global markets (United States, China, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil), Spain ranks as the seventh-largest classifieds market in terms of turnover globally.

This dynamism is largely driven by the market's ability over the past five years to catch up with its main global competitors in terms of Average Revenue Per Retailer (ARPR) in these two major markets. While Spain still lags behind other major European markets, this ARPR gap is no longer widening as it did in the late 2010s and is even showing signs of narrowing. This demonstrates the ability of the market leaders and even the second-tier players to consistently increase their prices by double digits each year, indicating a certain level of maturity among market players and professional advertisers.

Towards a More Challenging 2025?

As we shared in our first issue of the year on forecast trends in major classifieds markets, the automotive and real estate sectors in Spain could face some challenges in 2025. In the automotive sector, the increase in supply is good news for websites, but the decline in the number of active professionals in the market is a potentially bad sign to watch closely. The situation should also be strictly analyzed in real estate, where both supply, and the number of published properties decreased in 2024. One key example of it being Idealista's press release underlining notable inventory decline in Q4 2024.

Unique Players That Could Change Hands in the Coming Months

Beyond the dynamics specific to this large global classified market, Spain also counts with players with profiles sometimes very different from those in other major Western markets. Joreca provides you with an overview of the four most prominent players in the market.

Adevinta: Four Key Activities for the Historical Market Leader

Adevinta stands out in the Spanish market as the key player to focus on. Originating from the Anuntis group, it is one of the few traditional classifieds media companies to successfully transition from print to online in the early 2000s. Adevinta Spain holds a unique position globally, leading or ranking second in the four largest classifieds verticals: Milanuncios (horizontal), Coches.net (auto), Infojobs (employment), and Fotocasa-Habitaclia (real estate). Of interest is also its ownership by an international group, with Blackstone and Permira aiming to sell its assets country by country. After selling shares in major joint ventures in Ireland and Austria, Spain is reported to potentially be next in line.

This raises the question of whether Adevinta Spain’s dominance is an asset or a liability in driving up its sale price. On one hand, its leadership in two out of four verticals, often through strategic acquisitions (Milanuncios and Habitaclia), presents a compelling investment opportunity. On the other hand, its profitability lags behind other key Adevinta markets like Germany, France, and Benelux, with complexities arising from competition in areas where it faces second-tier rivals (e.g., Wallapop in horizontals, Indeed in employment) and declining performance in real estate. The strategy of piecemeal sales and a potential increase in buyers could lead to a segmented sale. The company is reportedly potentially preparing for this with a legal carve-out of its Spanish assets and workforce optimization plans

Adevinta Spain metrics

KPI	National rank
Traffic (general goods sector)	2
Traffic (automotive sector)	1
Traffic (real estate sector)	2
Traffic (job sector)	1
Active Automotive Dealers	1
Active Real Estate Agent	2
Active Companies listing Job ads	2

Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for March 2025

Vocento: From Local Hero to King Maker?

Another peculiarity of the Spanish market is the Vocento group This major local press publisher has built a significant position in the marketplace’ world. This strength is reflected in the Autocasions.com site, allied with Autoscout24 in the Sumauto joint venture, and Pisos.com, the number three in the real estate market. With proven efficient strategic flexibility (Autocasion, for example, had the right for two years to monetize auto ads from Milanuncios after its acquisition by Adevinta) and good integration with field teams and other Vocento media, the classifieds business unit has seen its revenue grow significantly over the last years. It also increasingly contributes to the financial health of its parent group (20% of EBITDA in 2023 and likely more in 2024 given the group's difficulties in its core press business).

Vocento's strategic positioning in two key markets and past (Idealista) and future (Adevinta) movements can offer numerous strategic opportunities. This could even make the group a kingmaker in a market undergoing reorganization. A perfect illustration of it is the recent sale of Vocento’ Pisos.com to the Italian giant Immobiliare for €22.5 million, announced on March 19, 2025. This move not only optimizes Vocento's value but also provides Immobiliare with a strategic advantage to challenge Idealista in its domestic market, mirroring Idealista's tactics in Italy.

In addition, this transaction could also have significant implications for potential buyers of Fotocasa.es, the second-largest player in the market, whether sold individually or alongside other Adevinta Spain assets. The question could now also arise in the same way in the automotive market, especially since Vocento has a particular position linked to its joint venture with AutoScout24.

Vocento Spain metrics

KPI	National rank
Traffic (automotive sector)	2
Traffic (real estate sector)	3
Active Automotive Dealers	3
Active Real Estate Agent	3

Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for March 2025

Wallapop: The Horizontal Gem

The third Spanish peculiarity is the survival of real competition on horizontal sites. Born as a 100% mobile classifieds app, Wallapop has made a name for itself in the market and now competes directly in content and traffic with Milanuncios, the local leader owned by Adevinta.

Although not yet profitable, the site has many assets. Its traffic and content are now comparable to those of Milanuncios. Its management team has also proven its effectiveness in financing the company's growth by successfully raising significant capital in 2023 and 2024. Finally, in the auto vertical, Wallapop has established itself as the second player in terms of active professionals and has far surpassed Milanuncios in publishing private listings. Significant future monetization capabilities are therefore to be expected.

Wallapop Spain metrics

KPI	National rank
Traffic (general goods sector)	1
Traffic (automotive sector)	3
Active Automotive Dealers	2

Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for March 2025

Idealista: The Uncontested Real Estate Leader 

Idealista was one of the stars of 2024: with a nearly €3 billion acquisition (exactly €2.9 billion) by Cinven, the site has become, by far, the highest-valued web company in Spain. This recognition is the result of long-term work in the real estate market, where since its creation in 2000, the site has gradually surpassed Fotocasa (Adevinta), the historical leader, before creating a significant advantage that also allowed it to expand into Portugal while increasingly challenging Immobiliare in Italy.

So far quite in advance in its homeland market, Idealista would have to check potential higher competition should Adevinta’ s Fotocasa-Habitclia been sold to a new owner that would invest on a more aggressive strategy or new Immobiliare owned Pisos.com fight even harder on traffic and agent acquisition.

Idealista Spain metrics

KPI	National rank
Traffic (real estate sector)	1
Active Real Estate Agent	1

Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for March 2025

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This article was written using Joreca’s data, public information, and expert opinion. Under no circumstances does this article constitute a solicitation, offer, opinion, approval nor recommendation by Joreca, to buy or sell any company share, nor does it provide legal, tax, accounting or investment advice, nor services regarding the profitability or suitability of any security or investment.