According to a study published by idealista, the Balearic Islands contain seven of the ten municipalities where the effort required by families to purchase a home is the highest. Factors influencing this effort include the average household income, property prices, the cost of financing and the need to make sufficient savings.
Andratx, in the Balearic Islands, is the Spanish town where local families face the greatest effort to purchase a home, with housing costs consuming 91% of the average household income. It is followed by Santa Eulalia del Río in Ibiza (78%), Calvià in Mallorca (74%), Eivissa (70%) and Sóller in Mallorca (64%).
Benahavís and Marbella in Málaga are the first non-Balearic towns on the list, with a rate of 62%. Next is Moraira in Alicante, with 61%, while the final two spots are occupied by Campos and Santanyi in Mallorca, both sharing a 60% rate.
The least demanding municipalities to be able to buy a house: Tortosa, Aller and Puertollano.
Conversely, there are municipalities where the effort required to buy a home is virtually non-existent. Three towns stand out as the least demanding, with families needing to allocate just 6% of their income to purchase a house: Aller in Asturias, Puertollano in Ciudad Real and Tortosa in Tarragona.
In fourth place is San Martín del Rey Aurelio in Asturias, with a 7% effort, while towns such as Caravaca de la Cruz in Murcia, Linares in Jaén, Valencia de Don Juan in León, Mieres del Camino in Asturias and Manzanares in Ciudad Real each require an 8% effort. Finally, the ranking of least demanding municipalities is completed by Lena in Asturias, with a 9% rate.
75 points difference between the greatest and the least effort
The study also provides data on the markets that require the most and least effort in each community. The differences are significant; for instance, the most demanding market in the Balearic Islands (Andratx) is nearly 75 points higher than the most demanding market in Extremadura (Badajoz, with 17%).
Regarding the markets with the lowest effort rates, the differences are smaller. In the Balearic Islands, Inca requires 28% of household income, whereas in Asturias, the lowest effort rate is seen in Aller, requiring just 6%.
Methodology
The effort rate measures the impact of home ownership on a household's purchasing power. Specifically, in the context of buying a home, idealista/data calculates the effort rate as the annual portion of a household's net income allocated to repaying a "typical" mortgage. This mortgage is defined by average terms in terms of duration and interest rates as published by the ECB. The home price is based on the median value of a two-bedroom property, while data on net family income is sourced from the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE).
Data compiled and analysed by idealista/data, idealista's proptech, which provides information for a professional audience to facilitate strategic decision-making in Spain, Italy and Portugal. It uses all the idealista database parameters in each country and other public and private data sources to offer valuation, investment, recruitment and market analysis services.
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