Spain becomes Europe’s hardest country to buy a home in – what it means for buyers

Spain hasn’t just kept pace with Europe’s housing squeeze, it has pulled ahead of it. The income needed to buy a home here has grown nine times faster than the eurozone average since 1980, and in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga a family now needs up to ten years’ pay to afford one. 

National average hides a much steeper climb in the big cities

According to the Bank of Spain’s latest annual report, based on data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average Spanish household needed 4.3 years of income to buy a home in 2024. That figure blends the whole population together, including long-established owners who bought years or decades ago at far lower prices.

Narrow it down to households that do not yet own and are actually trying to buy, and the figure rises to 6.8 years. Renters and first-time buyers typically earn less than the national household average, and they are buying at today’s prices rather than yesterday’s, which is why the gap between the two figures is so wide.

The gap widens further in Spain’s most sought-after cities. Households in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga need between nine and 10 years of income to buy, according to the same analysis, more than double the national average. 

Why the climb has outpaced Spain’s neighbours for four decades

The Bank of Spain’s report singles Spain out among advanced economies for how much the burden of buying has grown since 1980. Over that period, the share of income needed to buy a home has increased by 88.6%, compared with a rise of just 10% across the eurozone as a whole.

That means the effort required of Spanish buyers has grown almost nine times faster than the average for the Union, even though several eurozone countries started the period with property markets at least as expensive as Spain’s. The same divide shows up across Europe more broadly, with southern and central European cities generally faring worst. 

House prices have grown more than twice as fast as wages

The mismatch has become sharper in recent years. Figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) show that between the second quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2026, average home prices rose by almost 64%, while wages grew by only 27.4% over the same period.

That means prices have risen more than twice as quickly as pay, eroding the purchasing power of an entire generation of would-be buyers before deposit requirements are even taken into account.

More families are borrowing beyond the safe limit

The strain is also showing up in mortgage lending. The Bank of Spain considers a mortgage risky once repayments exceed 35% of a household’s income. In 2025, 11% of all mortgages granted in Spain crossed that threshold, a small but telling slice of buyers stretching themselves financially just to get onto the property ladder.

A squeeze buyers cannot simply wait out

For foreign buyers, including the British nationals who make up a large share of Spain’s property market, the figures point to a structural shift rather than a passing spike. Four decades of steadily rising effort suggest the extra years of income now needed in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga are unlikely to fall back quickly, even if price growth eases from its recent pace.

The shortfall of hundreds of thousands of homes that Spain is currently working through, and which is not expected to ease before 2034, gives buyers little reason to expect relief any time soon either.