Madrid (EFE).- The effort to access a house does not stop increasing. According to the latest data from the Bank of Spain, almost 8 years of gross salary are needed to acquire one, and the first year more than 36% of available gross annual income must be allocated to it, the highest percentage since 2012.
But if you opt for rent, the sacrifice is even greater, 43%, the highest figure in the last decade, according to data handled by the Fotocasa real estate portal and the InfoJobs employment platform. A percentage that even exceeded 50% in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Madrid or the Basque Country.
With these data, the salary effort that citizens have to make to access a home is well above what is recommended by the control bodies, which consider that no more than 30% of income should be allocated to paying for the house .
It’s still below the highs.
According to the Bank of Spain, in the fourth quarter of 2022, more than 7.8 years of gross salary were needed, practically similar to the previous quarter, when the highest figure since 2011 was recorded at 7.9 years. In addition, to pay the quotas In the first year, 36.1% of the available annual income was needed, the highest since 2012.
These figures are, however, below the maximum reached in the third quarter of 2007, before the bursting of the bubble, when it took almost 9.5 years of gross salary to acquire a typical home financed with a standard loan for 80% of its value.
On the contrary, the minimum -2.96 years- occurred in the first three months of 1987, the year from which the Bank of Spain has records of this indicator.
Since the entity has quarterly records, the greatest effort was made visible in 1990 with more than 72% of income in the first year. It should also be noted that in mid-2008, in the midst of the real estate crisis, it reached 54.6%, while the minimum was recorded in mid-1999, with 25.3%.
For their part, Fotocasa and InfoJobs calculate that Spaniards spent an average of 6.7 years (81 months) of their full gross salary to pay the mortgage on their home purchased in 2022 and conclude that we are facing the greatest wage effort than the citizens have made due to the historical increase in housing prices.
Even more effort to pay the rent
Although both web portals estimate the gross salary that citizens have to allocate to paying the rent of a home in 2022 at an average of 43%, the highest figure in the last decade, this percentage exceeded 50% in some communities and even close to 60%.
According to data from Fotocasa, the price of rental housing in Spain closed 2022 with an annual increase of 7.4% until reaching 11.03 euros/m2 per month in December. For its part, the average gross salary registered by InfoJobs last year was 24,395 euros (2,033 euros gross per month in 12 payments).
In the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Madrid it is close to 60%
By autonomous communities, the highest percentage of salary to pay the rent of a home was registered in the Balearic Islands (58% of gross salary); Catalonia (58%); Madrid (57%); Basque Country (52%); Canary Islands (49%) or Cantabria (43%).
And it is that in addition to the fact that wages do not grow at the same rate as housing, rental prices are at their highest historical level, showing the largest increases in the last 17 years.
As the price of housing grows, although a moderation is already observed and some sources even detect slight falls, and financing becomes more expensive due to the rise in interest rates to deal with inflation, experts agree that the effort that families will need to face a house can be even greater.
In addition, we will have to wait and see how the new Housing Law approved this week in the Congress of Deputies impacts the sector.