Gabriela Galarza

Updated Thursday, January 25, 2024-15:51

Buying a home has always been the preferred option among Spaniards, for a cultural reason, Spain has traditionally been a country of owners, but above all for an economic matter.

Facing the payment of a loan for a home has been, until now, more profitable than paying the monthly payment for a lease.

However, prices have risen so much in recent years that neither of the two options seem to be affordable for the residents of our country.

The economic impact that paying rent has on household income is increasing, but so is paying the mortgage payment, so much so that in

nine cities it is no longer affordable to buy a house

.

In

San Sebastián

,

Marbella

,

Alcobendas

,

Pamplona

,

​​Cádiz

,

Palma de Mallorca

,

A Coruña

,

Bilbao

and

Madrid

the price of the mortgage payment exceeds the monthly rent.

This is clear from the latest report prepared by

UVE Valoraciones

, the appraisal company, which analyzes the sales and rental prices in the 63 most populated municipalities in Spain, those with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Experts point out that

mortgages have experienced very strong increases

in all cities in the last year as a result of the rise in interest rates, but the greatest increases have occurred in those places where the value of housing grew rapidly. special strength.

In fact, the number of cities in which mortgage payments are higher than the cost of rent grew compared to the previous year when there were only six.

Cádiz, Bilbao and Madrid join the list in which purchasing a home is no longer acceptable.

But neither is living on rent.

The price of rentals has continued to increase in most localities, but in a very unequal manner, which has led to a change in the relationship between mortgage payments and rents in most municipalities.

"Just because the installments are higher than the rents does not mean that it is better to rent than to buy in the long term," explains

Germán Pérez Barrio

, president of UVE Valuations and points out that San Sebastián is the only town in which it is preferable to rent than to buy, even in the long term.

In the Guipuzcoan municipality the rental price per square meter is around

16.8 euros

, while the mortgage payment is

23.38 euros per square meter

.

"The balance between buying and renting is reached when the installments are about 35% higher than the rents," adds Pérez Barrio.

The same report indicates that the number of municipalities in which the mortgage payment represents

75% of the average rent

has also increased , since in November 2022 they represented 64% of the total number of municipalities, while in December 2023 they represented 70% of the average rent. total number of municipalities, that is, 44 of the 63 studied.

Furthermore, from UVE Valuations they emphasize that buying a home is only within the reach of those who can get a mortgage and fundamentally of those who have prior savings that allow them to pay the down payment since banking entities usually finance only 80% of the cost of the property.

"Although the comparison between mortgage payments and rents may be favorable to the purchase of the home, we must not forget that the main obstacle for those who buy for the first time is the need to have saved the equivalent of

28%-32% of the price of the home. purchase of the home

to face the part not financed by financial entities, 20% and the taxes and expenses associated with the purchase, which are between 8% and 12% depending on the area. This is the main obstacle for young people and the reason why alternative measures to rent regulation are advocated based on facilitating the purchase through State guarantees that allow financing greater than 80% of the purchase price", concludes the president of the appraiser.