Sky-high rents are driving workers out of Spain’s big cities and into commuter towns on the high-speed train lines

RISING rent is driving workers out of Spain’s big cities and into commuter towns that sit on the high-speed train train lines.

Sky-high rent prices in Spain have led almost 237,000 workers to change locations in 2024.

This finding, and more, have been released by the Agencia Tributaria who publish statistics on workers residency each year.

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One of the key conclusions from the data, which was published this week, is that over 30,000 salaried workers left Barcelona last year – in 2019, this figure was approximately 18,000.

Although the number of workers arriving in Barcelona has stayed relatively stable over this five year period meaning that the city has still seen an increase in salaried workers.

Last year Barcelona gained 180 workers, the number was much higher pre-pandemic when, in 2019, 6,044 workers moved to the city.

Similar movement has been seen in Madrid where workers abandoning the city are not heading to nearby areas like Toledo or Valladolid: rather they are moving towards Aragon, Asturias, Galicia, Murcia and Valencia which are on high-speed rail lines. 

Last year Madrid’s central community lost 54,500 workers whereas pre-pandemic, the capital saw 35,000 exit.

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The rise in people leaving big cities is not just because of high rent, but also because of the move to remote working. 

It is no longer necessary to leave home in order to pursue a professional career as the workforce is spreading across the country, says economist Javier Santacruz using Hacienda data.

However, Raymond Torres, says that the main issue is undoubtedly the rising cost of housing.

Torres, who is the director of economic analysis at Funcas, states that a move towards remote working does not explain such a large jump in relocation in the last year.

Agreeing with Torres is Marcel Jansen, an investigator at Fedea and associate professor at the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid. 

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Jansen was keen to mention that sky-high rent prices are driving people out of cities and said that teachers and lecturers are being hit particularly hard – with unchanging salaries many are relocating to schools and universities in other locations. 

With house prices continuing to rise it seems that the number of workers leaving major cities will continue to grow.

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