Damning report on Spain’s housing market labels it ‘a system of wealth transfer’ as half of home purchases are made by ‘mega landlords’ while 70% of tenants expect to ‘rent until they die’

SPAIN’S housing market has been blasted as ‘inaccessible and monopolised’, with seven out of ten Spaniards appearing to be doomed to rent all their lives.

A new report has even gone so far as to brand the country’s rental market as ‘a system of wealth transfer between tenants and property owners who accumulate surplus properties.’

It notes that prices have now matched or even exceeded those seen during the 2007 housing bubble that crippled the Spanish economy.

Yet despite these soaring prices, house purchases have not dropped off. 

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In fact, since last year more than half were made in straight cash without a mortgage, while the number of large property owners with more than 10 homes have actually increased by a fifth in the last decade.

These wealthy property owners – 15% of whom come from abroad – who buy homes for speculative purposes have managed to inflate the market beyond the reach of most.

Nearly half of the homes registered between 2008 and 2020 are owned by companies with multiple properties, leaving everyday Spaniards with little hope of getting in on the action.

So much so that seven out of ten do not expect to be able to purchase a home based only on their salary in their lifetime.

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The report, From Owners to Tenants by the Urban Research Institute of Barcelona, states that those who rent take home an average annual income of €22,183, while property owners enjoy more than double that figure, at €46,725.

Renters now make up 53% of households aged 16-29 and 32% aged 30-44, and a majority are over 34.

The dream that inheritance will lift them out of this predicament looking increasingly forlorn.

Especially for those in some of the priciest cities. In Madrid and Barcelona, 70% of tenants do not expect to inherit property that would enable them to own a home. 

Among those who do anticipate an inheritance, four out of five will need to split among others.

The study concludes that without significant policy changes—such as increasing the availability of regulated, long-term rental properties—the rental market will continue to deepen economic inequality, trapping future generations in a lifetime of renting.

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While some government measures have been introduced, the study calls for stronger controls on rents and measures to prevent the concentration of housing wealth in the hands of a few.

Other measures include converting vacant and tourist properties into public housing and discouraging property hoarding by large investors.

Spain’s statistics agency, INE, estimates the number of empty homes at more than 3.8 million empty homes, 14% of the total stock.

It also estimates that 351,389 homes have been diverted to the tourist market based on advertisements on the digital platforms it surveys, although the real figure could be much higher. 

In Madrid and Barcelona, ??the conservative figure for homes used for tourists flats is 19,456 and 14,713 respectively.

The study is called From Owners to Tenants: A Study on Growing Inequality in Access to Property by the IDRA, the Urban Research Institute of Barcelona.