Spanish families need 7 years’ salary and 36% of income to pay for a house.

Spanish families need more than 7 years of gross wages to buy a house and allocate just over 36% of their gross annual disposable income to it in the first year, a percentage that has fallen for the second time in a row and for the first time. per year remains below 37%.

According to the latest data managed by the Bank of Spain, In the first quarter of the year, the Spaniards’ efforts amount to 7.1 years, the same time period that was reached at the end of 2023.

In terms of percentage of effort, between January and March this year 36.1% income buy a house, lowest figure since then at the end of 2022, when it was 34.8%.

All this in the context marked consistent price increases housing, which, although slowing month after month, did not stop growing even when there was an increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB).

In June the beginning of the end of the cycle of monetary austerity the beginning of rate cuts, which makes mortgage financing cheaper.

Above 30% from 2022

Despite the presence slightly moderateHowever, the effort that households have to make to purchase a home continues to exceed that recommended by numerous official organizations and experts, who emphasize that the annual income allocated to purchase a home It should not exceed 30% of income.

In fact, since the second quarter of 2022, this percentage has exceeded 30%, reaching its the maximum for this period (37.8%) in September 2023.which coincided with interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank (ECB) to curb inflation.

To measure the effort of households, the Bank of Spain takes into account the contributions payable in the first year after the purchase of a standard house financed by Standard loan for 80% of the cost of the apartment.

According to the historical series managed by the organization, which began in 1970, The greatest efforts were recorded in 1990 and 1991. when more than 72%

annual disposable income of the average family.

Without going back that far, in the third quarter of 2008, coinciding with real estate bubble burst which led to a severe economic crisis, families began to need almost 55% of your income in the first year. Thus, in the period from 2007 to 2008, the share of distributed income exceeded 50%.

In recent years, from late 2019 to early 2022, the percentage was less than 30%, although it was higher a decade earlier. Against, The minimum effort was recorded in mid-1999 – 25.3%.

Years stabilize but exceed 7

It currently takes 7.1 years of gross income to buy an average-sized house in Spain, the same as at the end of 2023. Since mid-2020, this period has been more than 7 years.

More than 8 years have passed from 2008 to 2011. and from the end of 2006 to the middle of 2008, which coincided with the real estate boom, it took more than 9 years. At the end of 2007, a historical record was set – 9.45 years of gross wages to buy a house.

The minimum, in turn, was 2.96 years in the first three months of 1987.

the year from which the Bank of Spain has records of this indicator.

It is worth remembering that for the first three months of 2024, the last period managed by the Bank of Spain, prices for free housing increased by 4.3% to 1865.8 euro/m2, The highest amount since late 2009, according to data released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.