The rise in rents over the past two years to record highs and the average rent per square metre in Spain at €13, means that more and more tenants are finding it difficult to pay their rent.
57% of renters in Spain report having problems paying their rent, compared to 40% of homeowners who report having problems paying their mortgage.
Rents have risen enormously
Ana Matos, Director of Studies at housing platform Fotocasa, attributes the difficulty tenants have in paying their rent to the “exponential” growth in rents: “This increase in rent increases the wage effort that citizens have to make to pay for their housing because one of the great obstacles is that salaries have not grown at the same rate as the price of housing”. According to Fotocasa’s data, 15% of the 57% of renters who have problems paying believe they have “a lot of trouble” paying their landlord and 42% have “a lot of trouble”. While 33% of renters say they have little trouble paying and only 12% of renters have no problems paying their monthly rent.
Mortgage borrowers and their payments
17% of people with a mortgage pay their repayments with ease. 40% have problems. Of those, 8% have “a lot of trouble”, while 32% admit to having “difficulty”. 43% of mortgage borrowers have “little difficulty” in paying the mortgage and 17% say they have “no problems” with their repayments.
More than 50% of income spent on housing The rise in rents means that an ever-increasing percentage of income is being used to pay rent. For example, one in four renters spends more than 50% of their income on paying the monthly rent. Most of the population with a mortgage spends between 20% and 40% of their monthly income on paying the installment.
One in four mortgage borrowers spend between 20% and 30% of their income on repayments, while 18% spend between 30% and 40% on the mortgage.
Another significant percentage, 21%, ‘only’ reserves between 10% and 20% of monthly income for this financial obligation. It is also pertinent that another 15% must set aside between 40% and 70% of their income to meet the repayment. Of these, 3% have to pay more than 60%.
Relatively high housing costs for young people
By age segment, it is noteworthy that 10% of the youngest, between 18 and 24 years old, have to set aside between 50% and 60% of their income to meet their monthly repayments.