In Spain, young people who wish to gain access to housing have more limitations than other sectors of the population. This especially happens when buying property. According to INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística), in Spain there are around 5 million young people under 35. It is estimated that many of them prefer to spend their money on travel or other vital experiences rather than in material investments. In this respect, we can say that on the part of young people, there is some skepticism when it comes to investing capital in personal property. Regarding housing, Spanish young people currently face difficulties in saving as they do not usually have a steady and consolidated job. In this blog some time ago, we wrote an article about the challenge of becoming emancipated in Spain.  We stated that in Spain the average age of becoming emancipated is around 30, whereas in Europe it is 26. This clarifies how difficult the situation actually is for young Spanish people. Great cities appeal to our youth, however, it is very difficult for them to even consider buying there. In many cases, the difficulty of purchasing in the centre has led to having to buy in the outskirts because housing there is larger and more economical than in the city centre.

DIFFICULTY IN PURCHASING

In this blog we wrote an article about housing in the coming decade.  We stated that new technologies would be in control of the real estate sector. This is already happening. Our young people were born in a digital world and thus they handle and use technology perfectly. This allows them to carry out the process of searching for property in an agile and effortless way. Currently, some financial institutions offer products which are aimed at facilitating the purchase of property to young people. However, it is not an easy task for a young Spanish person to consider purchasing a house. According to INE facts and figures, in 2017 only 26,5% of young people owned property. Furthermore, this report also showed the difficulty for arranging a mortgage. It is estimated that those under thirty spend just over 30% of their salary on housing. Many of them want to live in the centre of great cities where it is nearly impossible to even consider buying. In many cases this fact has led to opt for renting. In this blog we have already seen that the price of renting in Spain is very high,  and this causes renting not to be a simple option.

MADRID: PLAN VIVE REGARDING RENTING

Plan Vive is underway in the Community of Madrid. This Plan intends to build 25.000 rental housing in the next eight years. These houses will be at a price which is lower than the regular one in the market so as to encourage young people. Plan Vive can be of great help because the purchase of a house is much more difficult. Some weeks ago, in this blog we wrote an article stating that housing prices in Spain will peak in 2020. This news, which is promising for young people, should go hand in hand with an improvement in the fields of employment so that the purchase of housing is possible and thus, the age of emancipation can be reduced. We will see if this leads to significant progress.