Housing crisis
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Cristina Vallejo
Malaga
Friday, 20 September 2024, 17:24
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Andalucía is the region of origin for three out of every ten (29%, to be precise) of those looking for a room in a shared flat in Spain. Catalonia (18%) and Madrid (16%) are the next most represented regions in this segment of the real estate market, according to a study by real estate portal Fotocasa.
This figure means that those from Andalucía are over-represented in the shared housing market. This is because the number of inhabitants of the region accounts for less than 18% of the country's total population, that is not even one in five Spaniards. There are more than 8.6 million residents in the region compared to almost 48.8 million living in Spain as a whole. Meanwhile, those seeking flat-shares in Catalonia are more in line with their proportion in the country's population (16.5%), as are those from Madrid, who account for just over 14.3% of the Spanish population.
The Fotocasa study also detects that behind the search for a room in a shared flat there is work or academic mobility, as 25% of applicants have rented or tried to rent a room in a town in a different province to their previous residence. This is the largest group, although 23% of this type of tenants have searched in the same locality, although in a different district, and 19% in a locality close to their previous home.
In terms of their previous living situation, it is clear that young people feature heavily in this market, since four out of ten had been living with their parents. Another 19% had shared a house with people who were not relatives, but almost the same percentage (18%) lived alone. So, within the latter group, it can be deduced that they have had to go from being able to afford a place of their own to having to make do with a room.
As Fotocasa has concluded in this study, in the year 2024 "an important change is taking place in the profile of the applicant for a shared flat in Spain." Thus, if in 2023 the profile was much more female-based (61% of female applicants compared to 39% of men), in 2024 the scenario has switched to 55% male applicants and 45% female.
In terms of socio-demographic characteristics, the average age is 33 years (although nearly half are aged 18 to 24), while also nearly one in two belong to a high or upper-middle income bracket, compared to only 22% in the lower income brackets. From this, Fotocasa deduces that there has been a certain shift in demand in the last year from the intermediate to the upper level.
"The profile of those who rent a room in a shared flat is close to the age at which they are no longer young. This group, which is almost 35 years old, does not share a flat for pleasure, but out of obligation. Moreover, we know that they are at the age of emancipation, because the vast majority come from living with their parents. It is important to note that 45% are women, a situation that could influence and increase the problem of the low birth rate in our country. The reasons that lead people to share housing are the high rental prices and job insecurity, which do not allow people to reduce how much of their salary goes towards accessing somewhere to live", explains María Matos, spokesperson and research lead for Fotocasa. However, the search for rooms does not alleviate the issue as, according to the report, 64% of those looking for a shared flat mention the high price of a room as a key difficulty in securing a flat-share.
Fotocasa, in another report, revealed that the average price of rooms in shared flats in Malaga city is 516 euros, which makes it the most expensive provincial capital in Andalucía, followed by Cadiz (479 euros) and Seville (412 euros). In Spain as a whole the average price is around 500 euros. According to Idealista, however, the average rent for a room in Malaga is 400 euros, a figure that equals the Spanish average, as reflected in the data from the same source, according to which the most expensive provincial capital is Barcelona (565 euros), Madrid and Palma de Mallorca (both around 500 euros).
The real estate portal's latest report indicates that 35% of flat-sharing applicants end up renting a room within under two weeks, while another 28% secure somewhere within two weeks to a month. A further 38% spend more than one month searching. This is consistent with data from another study published by Idealista: in Spain as a whole, for every advert for a room for rent there are on average 23 interested parties. That said, there are areas of the country where there is much more demand: Malaga is in third place among the list of cities with the highest number of applicants for each advert - 47 to be precise. Ahead of Malaga are Palma de Mallorca, with 91 interested in each room for rent and San Sebastian at 65 applicants per advert.
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