Average monthly cost in a Malaga care home exceeds 2,000 euros

The average monthly cost of a place in a private care home in Malaga has now exceeded 2,000 euros. To be precise it is 2,090 euros, 100 euros above the national average. Then add on 10% IVA (value added tax). The data was provided by the retirement homes themselves for a study carried out by Inforesidencias.

This report reveals that prices vary considerably by region and then province. Vizcaya province leads the ranking at 2,324 euros with Segovia last at 1,300 euros. Malaga is the sixth most expensive province in the entire country, only surpassed by Vizcaya, Álava, Guipúzcoa, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Granada.

As for the Spanish regional averages, the Basque Country tops the chart every year, now at 2,282 euros, with the Canary Islands next (2,070 euros), Navarra (2,067) and Valencia (2,065). Least expensive are Aragon (1,695) and Castilla y León (1,744).

The report's authors highlight that 62% of internet users looking up such residences do so for a person over 81 years old. The average age of residents is 82, according to Imserso data.

While prices in 2023 have increased by 6.4% compared to 2022, this is still less than the cumulative inflation for all 2022 (10.8%).

"If we compare it with data from six years ago (2017), the average price has increased by 11.9% when cumulative inflation for this period was 19.1%. This indicates that prices have remained stable and we can say that the elderly care industry has barely passed on its increase in structural costs (salary increases, gas, electricity, other supplies) to the end user in recent years," said Inforesidencias.

Still, these prices clash with family budgets. Visitors to the portal start searching for care homes with an average price of 1,571 euros, some 26% below the real average price of a place in Spain (1,990). Some 44% of users enter monthly prices below 1,500 and 16% try for under 1,000 euros. The average retirement pension in Spain, however, is estimated at 1,375 euros per month.