The Spanish housing market is unsatisfactory for a large number of its citizens. To the progressive rise in rent in recent years we can add sales prices that are only accessible through very high salaries (not too common in Spain), a lot of savings (collapsed in recent decades) or long mortgages. Some parties have included part of this discontent in their proposals, although the practical measures have been soft.
Well, there are still countries in a worse situation.
The data. This is illustrated by this report by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, which compares the percentage of income that each citizen spends on housing in each country. The figure for Spain reaches 17%, a large figure if we think about the nature of the statistics (average, distorted by the most extreme figures and by the high percentage of owners who accessed their homes decades ago; the percentage cost for young people in rent or mortgaged is higher).
Throughout the continent it amounts to 20%. And in other states, such as Germany, it is close to 30%.
Why. Because the crisis of access to housing, salary stagnation and job insecurity are not exclusive problems in Spain. We have seen on other occasions how tourist and real estate pressure has multiplied rental prices in the Netherlands (+20% of income for housing), to the point that its politicians have taken drastic measures (such as prohibiting speculative purchase , intended for investment and not for residence).
✅ Housing in Europe (2020-21)
Some indicators that show how we live, the cost of housing or the construction sector ⬇️
1⃣ 20% of the disposable income of Europeans is allocated to housing (in Spain, 16.9%). pic.twitter.com/z42qpoRQRJ
– Juan Luis Jiménez (@JuanLuis_JG) January 26, 2022
Less money. Germany offers another good example: Its much-lauded “job miracle,” the long-running digestion of the Democratic Republic that dragged down the country’s economy for years until its eventual resurrection early last decade, has been achieved through temporary work. The volume of “precarious” employment (less than €11/hour) has gone from 16% in 1995 to almost 21% in 2019. In 2014, Eurostat placed 22% of Germans in the “poor” wage bracket, compared to to 8.8% of France.
A dynamic that can be extended to other countries. The average salary on the continent increased by just over 2% between 2010 and 2020, falling drastically in 2021. We have seen it on other occasions: inflation and the price of things may be increasing, but productivity gains, very clear, it has not been followed by an increase in fair wages.
more expensive. Which brings us back to the price of housing, untied from the salary evolution of the continent. European prices increased by more than 8% and 9% in the last four months of 2021. Spain does not stand out here: its increases were contained (just over 4%) compared to the upturns in Estonia (17%) or the Netherlands ( 16%). After the shock of 2008 and the containment of the years of the crisis, the cost of housing has only increased in Europe. Between 2016 and 2020 it has always done so above inflation (7% more in Germany, 13% more in Luxembourg).
Between 2010 and 2021, rents in Europe have increased by 16% and house prices by 38%. Very far from wages.
Spain, so so. In that sense, Spain comes off well. The excesses of the bubble broke the real estate market, to the point that prices, always very high, have been contained. According to Eurostat, housing in Spain fell by 0.5% between 2010 and 2021. Very far from the +140% of Estonia, +110% of Luxembourg, +100% of Austria, 90% of Germany or Sweden and 50 % of Denmark or the Netherlands. It is no consolation, but Spain, in this sense, has the same dynamics as the rest of Europe.
Image: nazrin babashova