THE average Spanish family would have to save for more than 40 years to buy a two-bedroom home in Malaga or Ibiza, a sobering study has found.
According to property portal Idealista, anyone in Spain looking for a two-bed home will need an average of €51,410 in prior savings to secure a mortgage.
This sum will allow them to pay the deposit and cover extra transaction costs and taxes.
According to the INE (National Institute of Statistics), the savings rate for Spanish families in 2024 was 7.1% of their income.
Based on average income data, Idealista found that it would therefore take the average family 24 years of savings to reach the necessary €51,410.
There is, of course, huge variations depending on where families are buying, but Idealista has crunched the numbers.
The hardest place to secure a home is Ibiza, it found, with buyers having to save for 47 years to get on the property ladder.
This was followed by a series of tourist hotspots, including Malaga province (44 years of saving), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (38 years), Alicante (31 years) and Madrid and Las Palmas (28 years).
Other hotspots to pass the 20-year saving mark were Cadiz province (23 years), Barcelona, Granada, Huelva and Valencia (20 years).
The cheapest province was Ciudad Real, which only requires 10 years of saving to get a deposit.
The report found that the Balearic Islands have the highest required deposits among the provinces, reaching €122,845, followed by Malaga (€90,047), Madrid (€86,401), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (€79,502), Guipuzcoa (€63,146), and Las Palmas (€62,253).
In Ciudad Real, by comparison, just €20,465 is required as a down payment.
Francisco Iñareta, spokesperson for idealista, said: ‘This study shows the enormous difficulty families face in accessing housing.
‘Current prices and wages are absurdly lengthening the time required to save, making access to financing, and therefore home ownership, unviable for middle-income families.
‘The only way to access a first home comes through donations, windfalls, or inheritances.
‘Rental costs are higher than a mortgage payment, but without access to financing due to a lack of savings, many families are forced into the rental market.’
