If you are thinking about moving to Spain with the expectation of earning and buying housing there, for example, an apartment, you should immediately think about your savings and those opportunities to replenish them that you can find in another country. It is also necessary to remember that the price of a square meter of housing can vary significantly from region to region.
For example, when comparing average wages and the market value of apartments, regions such as Barcelona, the Balearic Islands and Madrid have long left the boundaries of the possible. If you do not have savings to buy in advance, then you will never be able to save for it from local salaries. A mortgage is also unlikely to be affordable.
In recent years, the real estate market has undergone a number of significant changes, especially with regard to housing prices. After the crisis of the late 00s, prices for residential real estate in Spain fell by a record 40%. However, in 15 years the situation has not only not improved. Now prices are breaking historical growth records, and the country's population is increasingly cut off from the market.
According to a study by the comparator HelloSafe, prices have increased by 11% in the last 4 years alone, despite all the economic and non-economic problems. They point to Barcelona, Madrid and the Balearic archipelago as places with a catastrophic gap in housing prices and wages. The situation is confirmed by a number of other organizations.
The volume of home purchases and their growth rates reached record peaks in 2022. The data indicate that last year sales growth was 6.1% and the volume of housing units sold almost reached 720,000 units — the highest figure in the last 15 years. Prices have increased by 7.2% over the year. On average, a square meter of housing in the country costs 1,615 euros, if you rely on the data of the General Council of Notaries of Spain.
In addition to the above three regions of the country, in general, the central regions of Spain and popular tourist destinations are at prices far beyond what is permissible for an ordinary buyer. The available options are provinces like Lleida, which is in the autonomous community of Catalonia.
To facilitate the access of the local population to the real estate market, some regions of Spain have launched various support plans. First of all, they are focused on young people and are trying to socialize and subsidize the housing stock in one way or another.
For example, Madrid at all levels conducts the program "Mi Primera Vivienda" (My first home), designed for young people under the age of 35 who are financially well-off, but do not have enough savings to buy a home directly.
The working population in Russia is really suffering greatly from the rise in housing prices, caused, in many respects, by the fact that it is bought by wealthy foreigners. All this is superimposed on the immediate crisis. For people with minimum wages, the situation is even worse. Even the recent increase in the minimum wage to 1,084 euros per month will not be able to change things.