19 December 2014
According to a recent study by idealista.com that uses personal income data of towns throughout the whole of Spain, including the islands, Nerja is the Spanish town where local residents have to earn more money when purchasing a home, as they need to spend, on average, an astonishing 10.5 years’ earnings.
With fairly low incomes of around 800 euros per calendar month, Nerja has become a town where many of the young locals have made the transfer to other local towns in the province, particularly Torrox where property prices are quite a bit lower.
Above the ten year mark, there are also other towns like the towns of Eivissa and Santa Eulalia del Rio on the Island of Ibiza with 10.2 years. Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona) takes fourth place in the list of towns in which residents’ income is lower in regard to housing prices with 9.7 years and it is the only town in the list’s top 15 not being a coastal town with tourist appeal.
Above the 9 year mark are also the towns of Sant Josep de Sa Talaia in the Balearic islands with 9.2 years- and Sanxenxo up in Galicia at 9 years. The list of the top ten ends with Sant Antoni de Portmany (Baleares) –8.9 years-, Baiona (Pontevedra) –8.9 years- and San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Las Palmas) –8.6 years-.
Barcelona is the first provincial capital city in the list, with 8.1 years of income needed to buy a home. Following are Cádiz at 7.4 years-, Coruña with 7.2 years and Madrid at 7 years. Below them are Salamanca –6.5 years-, Santander –6.5 years-, Málaga –6.2 years- and Sevilla –5.8 years-.
At the other end of the scale, the area of Valencia takes the first positions in terms of towns where it takes the less effort to buy a home. Onda (Castellón) with 2.5 years’ income, and Villareal also in Castellón with 2.6 years. In the town of Ontinyent (Valencia), 2.6 years’ income is required, followed by Mollerusa (Lleida) and Tortosa (Tarragona) –2.7 years- in both cases.
According to this study, Lleida is the Spanish capital city in which a home can be purchased at the least cost with only 3.3 years’ income. Castellón –3.8 years-. Guadalajara –4.3 years-, Huesca –4.4 years- and Alicante –4.5 years- follow in this ranking.
