According to an idealista study based on Q2 2024 data, the percentage of household income needed to buy a home rose to 23.1%, while it increased to 35.7% for rent. The shortage of supply and rising prices have pushed the rent burden to the recommended maximum, increasing by four points over the past year.
For Francisco Iñareta, idealista spokesperson, "As we predicted, during this quarter, families’ burden has once again risen due to the persistent lack of available supply, both on the property and rental markets. They remain under mounting stress, pressured by a growing demand and a dwindling housing supply, driving up prices and provoking an increased burden. In the rental sector, the fatal consequences of the Housing Act and all the rental measures passed in the last six years are evident, although there is no political will to reverse them.
As for buying, the lack of supply was starkly illustrated by the decades-long standstill in building new homes in the most sought-after areas, and the impact of this is now being felt. Unfortunately, new housing construction is taking years, so it is unlikely that large pockets of new housing will emerge in the short to medium term to ease market tensions and bring prices down."
Barcelona, the provincial capital with the biggest rent burden
There are 11 provincial capitals where the rent burden for a two-bedroom property exceeds the 30% recommended by experts. Barcelona has the highest rent burden (46%), followed by Palma (45%), Malaga (42%), Valencia (41%), Madrid (38%), Alicante (37%), San Sebastian (33%), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (32%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (32%), Bilbao (31%) and Segovia (31%). Below these figures are Seville (29%), Vitoria (27%), Cadiz (26%), Pamplona (26%), Granada (26%) and Santander (26%). In contrast, Ciudad Real (16%), Teruel (18%), Jaen (18%), Caceres, Palencia and Cuenca (19% in all three cities) have the lowest burden.
Segovia's rent burden has grown the most, having increased by six points. It is followed by Malaga (with five points), Valencia (with five points), Madrid and Barcelona (four points in both cases). In five provincial capitals, the rent burden is less than a year ago: Cuenca (down two points), Tarragona, Cordoba, Jaen and Badajoz (all down one point).
Malaga province has the highest rent burden for locals, accounting for 54% of the family's income. It is followed by the Balearic Islands (53%), Barcelona (43%), Valencia (40%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (38%), Las Palmas, Alicante and Madrid (37% in all three provinces). Also above 30% are Guipuzcoa (34%), Seville (30%) and Cadiz (30%). Teruel (16%), Palencia, Jaen and Ciudad Real (19% in the three provinces) are the four provinces where the least effort is required.
In most cases, the mortgage burden is less than renting, except for the markets of San Sebastian, Cadiz, Granada and A Coruña. Furthermore, five provincial capitals have a buying burden over the 30% recommended by the experts: Palma (44%), San Sebastian (39%), Malaga (38%), Madrid (34%) and Barcelona (31%). They are followed by the cities of Alicante (29%), Cadiz (29%), Granada (27%), Valencia, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Pamplona (26% in all three cases). The lowest burden is in Jaen (11%), Lleida (11%), Ciudad Real, Palencia, Teruel, Huelva, Zamora and Murcia (13% in all six cities).
Six provincial capitals have less mortgage burden than a year ago. The biggest difference was recorded in Barcelona and Albacete (down two points each), followed by Huelva, Cuenca, Palma and Badajoz (down one point each). On the opposite side of the table are the increases in the efforts of Malaga (eight points), Madrid (six points), Cadiz (six points), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (six points) and Alicante (five points).
Among the provinces, the Balearic Islands have the greatest burden - 44% of family income. It is followed by Malaga (42%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (36%), Alicante (30%), Madrid (26%) and Las Palmas (26%). In Barcelona province, it is 20%. The provinces Lleida, Teruel, Toledo and Ciudad Real, have the lowest mortgage burden, with a rate of 11%.
The housing cost burden measures how much housing weighs on a household's purchasing power. More specifically, in the case of renting, at idealista/data, we measure burden as the annual share of average net household income that goes towards paying rent for a typical two-bedroom house. Rental values come directly from the idealista data source, which has prices for each city. Net household income data, on the other hand, comes from the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Similarly, for buying, the burden is calculated as the annual share of the household's net income that goes towards paying a ‘typical’ mortgage, in the sense that it is stipulated with average characteristics in terms of duration and interest rate. Due to recent interest rate increases, the calculation has been updated based on data published by the European Central Bank.
