In the last five years, the price per square meter in the sale of homes has increased in Spain by 15.6%, while salaries have barely increased by 5.9% in the same period and, in fact, during 2021 they decreased 2.5%, according to A study set made by the Infojobs employment platform and the recently published real estate portal Fotocasa. For the report, both companies have based themselves on the figures of the announcements published on their respective websites.
The authors of the study point out that this disparity in the evolution of the salaries of the Spaniards in relation to the price of the sale of homes is a huge problem for Spanish households, who have to take on more debt if they want to acquire a home, something that is aggravated by the loss of purchasing power that they are experiencing due to inflation.
The covid stopped wages. According to data from Infojobs, Spanish salaries had been showing a slow but progressive increase between 2017 and 2020, but the effects of the pandemic on the national economy and on company activity stopped this escalation and caused salaries to contract. throughout the year 2021.
The sectors most affected by this reduction in the stipend are, in addition, those that already registered the lowest remuneration levels before the pandemic, for which the employment portal emphasizes that these circumstances have only increased inequality in Spain.
Salary loss by territories. By autonomous communities, the region most affected by the decrease in wages in 2021 was the Canary Islands, where the average salary fell by 6.8%, which meant that the average remuneration of the islands went from 24,764 euros per year in 2020 to 23,082 euros. The Region of Murcia was the second most affected, with a fall of 4.6%, while the Balearic Islands and Navarra coincide in third place, both with reductions of 3.6%.
most expensive houses. Regarding the increase in housing prices, the Balearic Islands top the list with an increase in the cost of buying and selling houses of 44.8% in the last five years, followed by Madrid (38.5%), the Canary Islands ( 28.7%) and Catalonia (21.7%).
Rains, it pours. The problem evidenced by these data is not new, but the pandemic has aggravated it and runs the risk of becoming chronic. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics As of 2021, in Spain there are already some five million people, approximately 30% of wage earners, who receive gross income of less than 1,336.6 euros per month in 12 payments. Which, after taxes and contributions, is less than a thousand euros per month.
A figure that is clearly insufficient if we take into account that in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona or San Sebastián, renting a house of about 60 square meters costs more than a thousand euros, according to data from Fotocasa. And much more if we talk about buying and selling, because in these cities the price of houses with the same characteristics is around 200,000 euros.
