The paper analyses the rent market in Spanish cities using information from Census data, 2001. Information about total rental homes are extracted from Census microdata as well as mobility of households during the previous decade. Two exercises use those information. First, deep on the household characteristics of tenants. Second, analyses the determinants of rent decisions based on the socioeconomic characteristics of the head of household. Results show how rent market is used to cover the housing needs during short period of time before jump to ownership, independently of the level of household income