Milan is the southern European city that requires the greatest effort to rent a property: in the great Italian economic hub, families must spend 42.6% of their income on rent, according to a study by idealista, which crosses rental prices in March 2021 and estimated* household incomes. Among the top 10 are five Italian cities, three Portuguese cities, including Setubal (40.6%) and Lisbon (38.5%), and only two Spanish cities: Santa Cruz de Tenerife (38.8%) and Madrid (36.3%).
The general recommendation of the experts is that no more than a third of income should be spent on paying rent. Only eight Spanish province capitals require an effort of more than a third of the family income to rent a property, and none has reached more than 40%.
In Spain, the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (38.8%) is the national market where families have to dedicate the highest salary to paying rent. It is followed by Almería, with 37.3%, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Madrid (36.3%).
But if we compare it with the rest of the countries of southern Europe, the situation is much more complicated for families in some cities in Italy and Portugal, especially in Milan (42.6%) and Setúbal (40.6%). These two areas alarmingly outweigh the weight of rented housing in the net income of households.
In Italy, above all, more capital cities have more than a stable 33% of net household income to devote to housing. Among the 10 cities with the highest rate of effort to rent in the three countries - Spain, Italy and Portugal - there are five Italian cities, three Portuguese cities and two Spanish cities.
In addition to the aforementioned Milan and Setubal, Vicenza, in the Veneto region, comes in third place, with 39.6%. The town of Lanusei (39.1%), on the island of Sardinia, is also above 39%.
Next come the coastal cities of Faro (Portugal) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, both with 38.8% of household income spent on renting, one percentage point higher than another Portuguese town, Évora (37.8%), the capital of Alentejo, in the centre of southern Portugal.
Almeria ranks eighth in the table of Southern European cities where the highest household income is required to rent a property. Also in the top 10 are two other Italian cities, Como (37.2%) and Prato (36.5%), which are still above the recommended one-third to avoid having to make an effort that would put the family economy at risk.
Effort rate in big cities
If we focus on the main cities in Spain, Italy and Portugal, Milan once again concentrates the highest household effort with the already noted 42.6%. The city closest behind is Madrid, with a rate of 36.3%, followed by Lisbon, with 35.8%.
Behind them, and already below the threshold of a third of household income spent on housing, in this case on renting the main home, is Barcelona (32.7%), ahead of Oporto (30.8%) and Rome (30.2%).