Housing prices in Malaga are rising three times faster than wages

There are many reports that measure the evolution of house prices. There are official ones (those published by Spain's Ministry of Housing and by the INE national institute of statistics) and there are also private ones, such as those published by appraisers, property registrars, notaries and also real estate portals. The latter take the database of the advertisements they publish as reference. Fotocasa is one such portal, which benefits from its collaboration with job offer portal InfoJobs in the generating of studies to compare prices of pre-owned housing and salaries.

What the latest study found was that the province of Malaga has experienced a deep discrepancy between the increase in housing prices and salary growth. To be more specific, the average price per square metre rose by 16.4%, from 3,295 to 3,836 euros between 2023 and 2024, while salaries increased by 5.4% in the same period, from 27,418 to 28,911 euros. As the report highlights, although Malaga was the Andalusian province in which the price of housing rose the most last year, it was also the province where salaries rose the most.

Meanwhile, in Spain as a whole, the price of housing rose by 8.4%, from 2,203 to 2,389 euros between 2023 and 2024. In the same period, salaries linked to the job offers published on InfoJobs rose by 3.1%, to 27,060 euros. At the same time, in Andalucía, the price increase was calculated at 12.1% in 2024, compared to a wage increase of 3%. This means that if in Malaga housing rises three times faster than salaries, in Spain pre-owned properties are more than twice as expensive as salaries for work, while in Andalucía housing prices are rising four times faster than salaries.

If we compare how the trend goes in other Spanish provinces, we can see that in Lleida, Cadiz and Coruña the increase in salaries does not reach 1%, while the increase in housing prices in these cases ranges between 8% and 10.5%. In another Andalusian province - Granada - the increase in housing prices in the last year was 10.3%, compared to the 2.9% rise in wages.

Housing has also risen three times more than wages in other parts of the country, such as Castellón, Murcia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Madrid. In the Balearic Islands, for example, housing rose by almost 20% last year, compared to the 6.2% increase in salaries.

In Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa, the rise in housing exceeds, albeit slightly, that recorded by wage - 4.9% and 5.8%, respectively, contrasting with the 3.1% and 4.6% rise in wages.

There are also cases where the opposite is true. In Jaén, for example, the price per square metre fell by 0.4% last year, while wages rose slightly by 1.4%.

The report prepared by InfoJobs and Fotocasa also compares differences in changes over the last three years. However, comparison on a provincial level is not offered within this timeframe and the report solely focuses on the differences from region to region. In Andalucía, from 2021 to 2024, salaries have increased by 8.8%, while the price of houses has shot up by 30.5%. This means that, in the region as a whole, real estate values have risen three times as much as salaries.

María Matos, director of studies and spokesperson for Fotocasa, commented on the matter: "Access to housing has deteriorated significantly in recent years due to the strong disconnection between the evolution of house prices and wages. Housing is rising three times more than wages, which reflects a structural problem that directly affects the purchasing power of citizens, especially young people and middle and low-income families. Spain is experiencing a 'boom' in demand despite scarce supply, which is pushing up prices. This situation is very difficult to reverse, so access to housing will continue to become more difficult and social inequalities will be accentuated."

Meanwhile, Mónica Pérez, director of research at InfoJobs, said: "In the last three years, the average evolution of salaries offered on InfoJobs has shown an upward trend. However, in both 2022 and 2023, this rise was not enough to offset the effect of inflation which, in addition, in the case of housing, is soaring due to the shortage of supply. In 2024, we see a change in trend, with inflation under control and some recovery of purchasing power in general, although the situation of the housing market continues to make access to housing difficult for a large part of the population."

In Spain as a whole, salaries in the last three years have risen by 7.4%, while housing prices have shot up by 25.3%.

What happens in other regions? Housing and wages are most closely matched in Asturias (13.9% wages and 15.4% housing), while in Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León they are equal at around 10% and 6%, respectively.

The greatest imbalance is found in the Balearic and Canary Islands, where house prices have risen by more than 50% in the last three years, while wages in the former have risen by 7% and in the latter by 6.8%.