Homeownership is losing ground in Spain in favour of renting. According to the 2023 Living Conditions Survey published by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), the number of households living in a property they own is at an all-time low, while rent is breaking records.
More specifically, 75.1% of families lived in a home they owned last year, the lowest figure in the last two decades, while rent at market prices reached 15.4%, a level obtained in 2019, the highest on record.
The share of rentals below the market price remained at 3.3%, after increasing three-tenths compared to 2022. Therefore, if we add the rentals at market prices and lower prices, the total weight of the rent increases to 18.7%, setting an all-time record in this case. Meanwhile, the remaining 6.1% of households lived in transferred homes, which is neither the highest nor the lowest in the last 20 years.
According to INE, property ownership in Spain peaked in 2005, representing more than 80% of the total, and since then, it has lost five percentage points. In the same year, renting at market prices reached its lowest level in the series, at 9.5%, almost six points below the current level.
As for rentals below the market price, the record was in 2004 (3.9%), while property transfers reached a high in 2007 when 7.1% of households lived in transferred homes.
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