But this is the Spanish average

House prices have been growing strongly for almost five years [it has done so 23% since 2013], but it is still a long way from reaching the level prior to the bursting of the housing bubble. In reality, buying a home today is still 21% cheaper than it was in 2007, just before it all fell apart. In those days, a Spaniard had to use his 13.6-year income to purchase a home that he owned; today the effort is less, 9.7 years.

The economic crisis, which has lasted for a long decade in our country and from which we are still recovering, changed the habits of Spanish citizens -many by force-, especially those related to saving. And home buying, probably the most important and committed decision, has also changed compared to before the harsh recession.

Although in Spain, buying is still the majority option [77.1% of households] and is still well above the Eurozone average [66.1%], rent has been gaining ground little by little. Specifically, just before the burst of the bubble, only 14% of homes were on a rental basis. Although still far from the percentage of owners, the data in 2018 nevertheless climbed to 18%.

But not only the interest of citizens for rent has grown after the crisis. It has also done it, and in what way, its price. If buying a house is 21% cheaper today than in 2007, renting one is 11% more expensive.

This is reflected in an ambitious report by the BBVA Foundation and the Valencian Institute for Economic Research (Ivie) released yesterday and which contrasts the rise in the rental price with the behavior of the price of housing in all the autonomous communities.

The rental option has grown in all of them, although there are still great differences by territory. For example, there is a gulf between the percentage of rented homes in the Canary Islands (27.8%) and that of Extremadura (10.9%), the community in which it still has less roots today.

Also the rise in the rental price has had different intensities according to each autonomous community. Where it has skyrocketed most since the crisis has been in Catalonia, Cantabria and the Balearic Islands, with increases of over 15%.And only in one community, Navarra, is it cheaper today to rent a house than before the crisis, 0.8% specifically, new villas in costa del sol according to this report.

The effort to buy a house is less today than in 2007, as mentioned before [9.7 years compared to 13.6] thanks to the fact that the price of the house has not yet managed to recover from the puncture [still 21% below ], but the per capita income of households has nevertheless risen by 8.8%. But this is the Spanish average, and there are again great differences depending on which community you live in. In the Balearic Islands, for example, it is where the greatest effort is needed to acquire a home owned (13.3 years of rent), followed by Madrid, with 12.1 years, and the Basque Country (11.6). At the opposite extreme is La Rioja, where you can buy a house with an income of 6.5 years, less than half that of the Balearic Islands.

The greatest drop in the effort index during the crisis years has been in Murcia (it has decreased by 5.6 years), in Andalusia (4.9) and in Aragon (4.9).

The price of homes has fallen without exception in all communities, but it has also fallen differently [see graph]. Navarra and Aragon are the autonomous regions with the most distant prices today from those of 2007 (41% and 38% below, respectively). And the Balearic Islands is the region in which the cumulative fall since 2007 has been less (11%).