Renting in Spain is already 60% more expensive than paying a mortgage

The unstoppable escalation of housing prices has led to an extreme situation in which families are forced to pay sky-high rental prices because they cannot afford to deposit a down payment for a home of their own. This is the reality of a Spain that has seen rent exceed mortgage by 60%, according to a study by iAhorro.

The data is based on iAhorro's market analysis, which indicates that the average rent in March 2025 was 1,153.03 euros per month, while the average mortgage was 722.06 euros, which would mean a difference of up to 430.97 euros per month.

"The effort of buying isn't just the mortgage; you also have to pay a down payment and other expenses upfront, which could amount to up to 30% of the purchase price", explains Simone Colombelli, director of mortgages at iAhorro.

This generates two direct consequences: those who have these savings prefer to take out a mortgage rather than pay rent, especially in these times of falling interest rates; while those who cannot afford this initial down payment "have no choice but to opt for renting, which generates growing price tension".

For the analysis, iAhorro has taken the average rental price from different real estate portals (Pisos.com, Fotocasa and Idealista) in each of the Spanish regions, homogenising the cost of an 80 square metre home. On the other hand, it used the latest data on the average mortgage per region, as published by the Bank of Spain (BdE), with an average fixed interest rate of 2.74% and a repayment term of 25 years.

The company also highlighted the efforts that people need to put nowadays just to make ends meet and pay for having a roof over their heads. Rent takes up 37.40% of a person's salary on average, compared to the 23.42% for a mortgage. Albeit small, this is less than it was a year ago (38.38% and 34.25%, respectively), thanks to the resilience of the labour market and the improvement in wages.

According to the latest living conditions survey published by the INE national institute of statistics, average household incomes in Spain rose by 6.25% in 2024, from 34,821 euros gross in 2023.

Another concern in Spain is the increase in the age of tenants. The average age is currently 36, compared to 32 in 2020.

Real estate agencies indicate that the majority age group is currently between 30 and 40 years old, accounting for 62.9% of cases, followed by those between 40 and 50 years old (21.6%) and those between 20 and 30 years old (13.9%).

With regard to the intended use of rental housing, 69.3% rent a home as their first residence, 13.4% for professional reasons, 12% as a student flat and 4.9% as a second residence. This has caused an "unprecedented exodus," which according to this analysis, has already led to 30.16% of new demand shifting from main cities or provincial capitals to the outskirts.