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Accessing homeownership in Spain is far more complex for young people than official statistics suggest.
While studies place the average home-buying age at around 41, that number doesn't reflect the full reality—especially for those who don’t live with their parents and have to take on the cost of housing alone or in shared flats.
The housing situation for younger generations shows a clear trend: moving out is increasingly difficult.
This means that not only are most young people not buying homes—they often can't even afford to live alone. Many continue living with parents or share housing, delaying their actual access to homeownership even further.
In Spain, accessing housing has become increasingly difficult for young people—especially Millennials (born between 1981 and 1997) and Generation Z—due to rising property prices and job insecurity. According to the report "The Financial Effort Required to Access Housing" by EAE Business School, Millennials need to save the equivalent of 3.6 years of their full salary to afford a down payment on a home (typically 20% of the property value plus additional costs). This figure represents 36.7% more time than it took their parents' generation, who in the 1990s only needed to save 2.6 years of income for the same goal.
Most statistics assume that young people live with their parents and allocate 100% of their annual income to savings for buying a home. But let’s be realistic—does that reflect actual life, or is it just an idealized hypothesis?
The typical “years of salary needed to buy a home” stat usually assumes 100% of income goes into savings—something totally unrealistic if you’re paying rent or other living expenses. In the real world, the savings timeline increases drastically.
That’s why, for those without direct family support or who don’t live at home, the real age to buy a home may approach 50 years old in the most strained real estate markets.
Although housing access is an issue across Europe, the situation in Spain is particularly restrictive.
In Northern Europe (Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Finland), young people move out earlier, but they often spend more than 40% of their income on housing. However, this is offset by higher salaries and stronger youth support policies.
In Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus), young adults take longer to become independent and also face high housing costs, although with slightly less pressure to save proportionally.
In Spain, the effort required is higher than the European average: the average age for purchasing a home is 41, compared to 34 in the rest of Europe. This highlights how difficult it is to save enough to access housing.
The difference stems from lower wages, less public housing, and less effective policies to support access to homeownership. Spain tops the ranking of countries where the most years of saving are needed just to afford a down payment—an alarming figure.
While the issue is structural, there are a few options that could help ease the burden (though not solve it completely):
The average home-buying age in Spain (41) hides a much harsher truth for those without family support. For people paying rent or living in shared flats, saving for a down payment can take far more than 15 years—and even several decades in the most expensive cities.
The generational and regional divide continues to widen, and the solution must include a combination of:
“It’s not that young people don’t want to buy—it’s that their starting point is much further behind than just one generation ago.”
In this context, Rand can be part of the solution—helping your savings work for you so you can reach your homeownership goals faster. It offers high-yield savings accounts that accelerate your progress, but the broader challenge remains structural and will require deep reforms to make homeownership realistically accessible for new generations.
Rand is a free and easy-to-use app that helps you reach your savings goals faster. With accounts offering up to 6.5% annual return, your money starts growing from day one—ideal if you're planning to buy a home or simply want your savings to go further, with zero hassle.
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