
The financial sacrifice households had to make to purchase a home in 2017 was less than that required during the period of upward price pressure in the property market, when prices reached their highest levels. However, an average family (with an average income) would still need at least six years to be able to purchase an ordinary home at current prices, presupposing that they allocated all their annual disposable income to this (which no-one can do, but this hypothesis is used to construct the indicator). This figure is two years more than the four experts regard as a prudent financial sacrifice. The difficulty of accessing housing is much greater for households in the lowest income distribution bracket (first quintile): these families on modest incomes would take over 16 years to purchase a home, even if they were to allocate all their disposable income to this.
The rental market offers an alternative to purchasing a home and many families opted for this following the start of the financial crisis, when it became more difficult to get loans. However, home rental costs have shot up in recent years, making access to housing even more difficult. Data published by real estate portals such as Idealista show that prices rose by 18.4% in 2017.
In reality, experts advise that no more than 30% of monthly income should be allocated to purchasing or renting a home. Figures show, however, that spending on housing absorbs a higher percentage than this of many families’ disposable income: over a fifth of the Spanish population live in households overburdened by the cost of their housing, which exceeds more than 30% of their income. And almost half of the population states that payments associated with their home represent a heavy financial burden.
YOUNG PEOPLE’S ACCESS TO HOUSING
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It is especially difficult for young people (aged under 35) to access the housing market, be it by either renting or purchasing a home.
A young person renting a home in 2017 had to spend 40% of their household’s disposable income in order to access the rental market. For young people aged under 25, this percentage rose to 44% of their income. If we look at average rents on real-estate platforms such as Idealista, we can see that households headed by a young person aged under 35 need to spend over half of their disposable income on housing. In the case of young people aged under 30, the cost of their rent represents almost 70% of their income.

In the case of home purchases, the fall in prices since 2009 has meant that the number of years needed to buy a home (bearing disposable income in mind) has fallen, though the time taken still remains longer than is advisable and is much longer for young people than for those aged over 34.

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EVICTIONS AND HOMELESSNESS
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In 2017, the number of households that lost their homes rose to 60,754 (0.05% of the population): 22,330 for non-payment of their mortgage; 35,666 for non-payment of their rent; and 2,758 for other reasons. Even though the problem of evictions has tended to decline in recent years, the number due to inability to pay rent rose in 2017 due to the considerable increase in rents in Spain.

Housing prices, the economic crisis and the lack of specific protection policies has resulted in an increase in the number of homeless people in the last decade. In 2016, there were 16,437 people who, on average, had to turn each day to homeless shelters for accommodation, a rise of 50% since 2006.

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