The burden of renting
To afford a rental property in Barcelona at 30% of available income requires a gross monthly salary of €2,800; the ripple effect has reached other towns
The combination could hardly be more devastating. To the increase that rental prices have experienced in places such as Barcelona (28.7%) between 2014 to 2017, we must add the precarious employment market and conditions. The average annual gross salary in Catalonia fell by €127.6 between 2010 and 2015 with the crisis and today, the cost of a rental apartment has become a real burden. In 2016, 40% of the tenants in the capital were spending 40% or more of their earnings on housing. In 2011, the figure was 33%. Access to housing is becoming a serious problem.
A report by the Metropolitan Housing Observatory (OMH) presents data which confirms this difficulty. Their experts agree that the cost of housing should not exceed 30% of income, so in Barcelona, where the average rental price is €864.98 per month, an income of €2,851.54 would be needed. Income available to most citizens falls well short of the dictates outlined by the experts.
The “Barcelona effect” is beginning to spread into urban areas surrounding the capital. “The dynamics of Barcelona, contaminate everything” says the president of the OMH, Carme Trilla. In fact, across the whole of the metropolitan area, the rise in rents between 2014 and the third quarter of 2017 was 28.3%. Does that mean that prices have peaked or will they continue to climb? Trilla thinks that it is not the question. In many cases families look for extra income renting out rooms. There is no easy solution and the market will not adjust on its own. “We have forgotten that housing policies are necessary, especially if people are vulnerable.”