Young people from Almeria allocate almost 50% of their salary to housing

2023-08-12 20:04:48

The young people of Almería allocate almost 50% of their disposable income to pay housing expenses, either the mortgage or the rent, according to the report ‘Youth Situation in Andalusia 2023’, by the Comisiones Obreras union.

Specifically, those under 26 allocate between 40 and 45% of their salary to pay the mortgage on their home, while those over that age use between 38 and 40%.

If they live for rent, the percentage of the salary to pay for the house in Almería is even higher, from 48 to 51%. This means that many young people are choosing to live in shared houses by renting a room, the cost of which in the province is between 200 and 250 euros.

These high rates in Almería are very similar to those in the rest of Andalusia, although, especially in the case of rent, they are below the majority of the provinces in the community.

Rental costs

The study, presented this week in Seville, details by province the percentage of salary allocated to rent by age and according to the size of the home, with data from 2021.

In the age group of 18 to 25 years, young people in the capital of Almería dedicate 68.8% of their salary to renting homes of up to 60.5 square meters, a percentage that drops to 63.8% in the whole of the province.

This amount increases as the meters of the house increase, so that young people of these ages in the capital need 145.6% of their salary, that is, almost 50% more than what they earn on average, to pay the rental of homes of up to 128 square meters, while in the province the percentage is 135.1%.

In the case of young people between the ages of 26 and 35, renting a home of up to 60.5 square meters represents 37.1% of their disposable income in the capital in Almería and 34.5% in all the province. In the case of homes of up to 128 square meters, 78.6% of the salary is allocated in the capital, and 72.9% in the province.

The most affected

As mentioned before and despite everything, young people from Almería are among the Andalusians who spend the least percentage of their salary on rent. The most affected are the Sevillians, especially those under 25 years of age, who in the province as a whole need 104.3% of their salary to pay the rent of the smallest homes analysed, those of up to 60.5 square meters. .

The situation in the capital is even worse, where they must allocate 114.6% of their salary. But it is that if a young Sevillian who lives in the capital and has an average salary wants to rent a house of up to 128 square meters, he must use 242.5% of the salary to pay it. In other words, to pay a month’s rent he needs to work almost two and a half months.

The CCOO report points to the low wages of young people in the autonomous community as the logical explanation for their problems in accessing housing and emancipating themselves. And it is that, as Antonio Valdivieso, general secretary of the union in Almería, says, the vast majority of young people from Almeria who work “are among the 54% of the total population of the province that earn below the minimum interprofessional wage”, which in 2023 is set at 1,080 euros gross per month in 14 payments (15,120 euros gross per year).

According to the study, young Andalusians between the ages of 18 and 25 have an average annual salary of 7,123 euros (a monthly average of €610), which highlights “the little stability in employment in these age groups, making it impossible to the option of emancipation in these ages”. And from 26 to 35 years of age, the average annual salary stands at 15,078 euros (€1,292 per month).

43.5% of salary for the mortgage

At these ages, the mortgage payment would mean an average of 43.5% of salary for Andalusians in 2021, a fee that has suffered a significant increase during 2022 due to the rise in interest rates.

For its part, the proportion of the salary that an average young Andalusian must allocate between the ages of 26 and 35 to rent a 60.5-square-meter home was 53.1% during 2021, rising to 79.4 % for a house of 90.5 square meters.

And if the low wages are added to the high percentage of unemployed under 30 years of age, also in Almería, we find ourselves with a more than complicated scenario. “Given this situation, from the CCOO we ask the Government of the Junta de Andalucía for policies that alleviate this situation, such as employment plans and access to housing that, in short, help young people to create a life project,” says Valdivieso. .

The CCOO Provincial Secretary considers several issues fundamental. To begin with, in his opinion, the real demand for housing should be known exactly, since “we find that the supply does not match the demand, and sometimes many applicants cannot access the houses built at prohibitive prices”.

youth rental voucher

It also demands that the construction of public housing be resumed and that measures such as the youth rental bonus be reactivated – “so that it really reaches all applicants” – or residence scholarships for students.

Valdivieso affirms that in Andalusia “there are many needs but little action by the Andalusian Government, which should abandon its resignation of functions”, taking into account that in the community “the percentage of emancipated young people stands at only 14%, compared to the 18% on average in Spain and 34% in Europe”.

Finally, it also calls on businessmen from Almeria, “to improve agreements and abandon fraud in hiring in different sectors.”