House prices in Spain up by 34% in the last 10 years

With the price of housing in Spain having risen by 34% in the last decade, which is 10 points more than the average salary has risen, there are concerns that many are being priced out of the market. This is according to data from a report by the real estate portal pisos.com. The report confirms that a large part of the population has lost their purchasing power. Not only that, but also that many experience difficulty even with securing a property to purchase. These are regarded as just two of the major problems that the current property market is suffering.

Specifically, the study shows that in March 2014, the price per square metre stood at an average of 1,658 euros at a national level, or 34.56% less than the same month this year (2,231 euros).

"The data is very clear and shows a clear upward trend in the level of house prices over the last decade, which has spread more or less evenly throughout the country, with special emphasis on areas of high demand such as the Basque Country, Madrid, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands," explained Ferran Font, director of research at pisos.com.

Thus, if a decade ago there were only three regions in Spain where the square metre was over 2,000 euros - Basque Country (2,879 euros/square metre), Balearic Islands (2,172 euros/square metre) and Madrid (2.143 euros/square metre), there are now six regions that far exceed this figure, including the Balearics (4,268 euros/square metre), Madrid (4,020 euros/square metre), Basque Country (3,119 euros/square metre) and Catalonia (2,758 euros/square metre).

The report admits that potential housebuyers have been losing purchasing power and savings capacity in the face of wage freezes. Thus, according to the latest available data from the tax authorities (2022), the average annual salary in Spain stands at 22,781 euros, only 23.68% more than a decade ago (18,420 euros), i.e. a rise that is 11 points lower than the rise in the price of housing.

"This is undoubtedly one of the great challenges facing the real estate sector. The public governing bodies, together with this industry sector, will have to overcome this in order to include different age-groups and affordabilities in the market", said Font.