Access to housing prevents 85.5% of Spaniards between 16 and 29 years of age from becoming independent

A significant majority of young people between the ages of 16 and 29 in Spain (85.5%) have not left their parents' home, according to the 2025 emancipation observatory report by the Spanish youth council (CJE).

This means that a total of 6.3 million young people still live with their parents, primarily due to the difficulty of accessing affordable housing.

The report reveals that the youth emancipation rate in Spain has fallen to its lowest level since records began, with only 14.5% of young people achieving independence in 2025. This means there were 48,513 fewer young people living outside the family home last year than in 2024.

Furthermore, it highlights that the estimated age for achieving independence has now reached 30.2 years.

Broken down by age group, 4.5% (216,959) of people between the ages of 16 and 24 and 33.1% (853,159 young people) between the ages of 25 and 29 have become independent. In total, the number of those living outside their parents' home reached 1,070,119 last year.

The report states that, although the youth labour market has shown improvements, this is not enough to offset the rising cost of housing. In 2025, the median wage of young earners grew by 1.7% year-on-year and youth unemployment fell to 17.2%, its lowest level since before the Great Recession.

The report identifies access to housing as the "main obstacle" for young people. The average rent reaches 1,176 euros per month, equivalent to 98.7% of the average salary of a young person.

Along the same lines, the average price of privately owned housing reached 223,000 euros, 13.1% higher than the previous year. To afford just the down payment on a home (around 66,900 euros), a young person would have to save their entire salary for almost five years.

The Spanish youth council says that this situation is "increasingly" shifting access to housing from individual effort towards family economic capacity, "consolidating deep inequalities of origin between those who can become independent and those who cannot".

According to the study, more than half of young people who do end up becoming independent (55%) choose to rent a home, with only 19.7% living alone, while 33% share a flat with others.

The report also highlights the precarious employment and social situation among young people. It reveals that 33% of employed young people, especially women, work part-time. Furthermore, 29.3% of the young population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2025.

The report points out that education and employment no longer guarantee independence or stability. Although 31.4% of young people have higher education, the rate of independence among those with a university degree reaches only 20.4%. This is compounded by a high level of overqualification, affecting 39% of employed young people, as well as the fact that 15.1% combine studies and work simultaneously.

The youth council warns that "housing has ceased to function as an element of stability and autonomy, becoming instead one of the main factors contributing to youth impoverishment".

Similarly, it cautions that "having a job no longer guarantees the ability to develop an independent life or maintain decent living conditions, because housing is stifling any possibility of prosperity and breaking the traditional link between work and life plans".

The report states that the current situation requires sustained and structural public intervention that places access to housing as a political priority.

The organisation calls for measures capable of expanding the public housing stock, effectively regulating the rental market and ensuring that public housing policies respond to the real needs of young people.

"Access to housing has become the main source of inequality among young people. Today, even those who work or manage to become independent face poverty and excessive debt. We are no longer even talking about housing hindering independence, but rather that the problem is so severe that it is impoverishing an entire generation," head of the Spanish youth council Andrea González says.

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