Each piece of information reaffirms the growing problem of accessibility to housing, whether purchased or rented. Ten days ago, a study by the Idealista.com platform showed that the average percentage of household income necessary to access a home increased to 22% in the case of purchasing and up to 33% for renting during 2023. In the latter case, the point was made at insufficient supply and the resulting increase in prices. It implies an increase in the effort to rent by three points in the last year.
The increase in financial costs for mortgages – with the rise in interest rates – fundamentally explains why families who purchase property have gone from having to allocate 18% of their income to 22% in just one year. There are abundant and marked territorial differences, with the city of Barcelona being the one that requires the highest percentage of household income for an average rental (44%), followed by Palma (43%), València (39%), Málaga (38%) and Madrid (37%), all of them significantly above the 30% recommended by experts.
The effort to purchase property is usually less than to rent, but when purchasing there are higher effort rates than recommended (30%) in Palma (46%), San Sebastián (39%), Barcelona (33%), Malaga (33%) and Madrid (31%). These data clash with the consideration of 2023 as a good real estate year based on value gains. Investors logically embrace security and profitability. However, it must be made compatible with adequate accessibility, prioritizing use for habitual residence, especially in such a worrying situation. Currently, according to Funcas calculations, six out of every ten purchases and sales are made without a mortgage, which illustrates the imbalance in access options.
The Housing law approved a year ago had complex measures that were difficult to put into practice successfully. It has been noted, particularly in rentals, that it was the focus. Rental price caps usually have effects contrary to those desired, except in exceptional cases. They drive the withdrawal of homes from the rental market and aggravate the situation. The lack of supply is the big problem. In the 2023 electoral campaigns, there was a lot of talk about accessibility, especially for young people. It would take many years to fix it – due to the housing needed – but forcefulness is lacking. Increase supply from now on (public and private) and persist for the rest of the decade, at least. Housing accessibility must stop being a nightmare in the medium term. The only good news in the short term may come for homeowners with a variable interest rate mortgage, who can see throughout 2024 how the financial cost of their loan decreases – even if little by little. Good for them, but much more is needed.
