Rising housing costs outpace wage growth nearly threefold over past decade

Over the past 10 years, housing prices have risen nearly three times as much as wages, eroding the purchasing power of households, particularly among the middle class and young people.

Since 2015, salaries have grown by 30%, while rents have increased by 50.5%, and purchase prices have doubled.

This has forced people to allocate an ever-larger share of their income toward housing.

Catalans must now accumulate the equivalent of 5 years' income to be able to purchase an 85m2 apartment. In Barcelona, ​​that figure rises to 7.2 years.

This multifaceted crisis of housing prices and rising cost of living, described by experts as "extreme", has prompted a 24-hour general strike for this Wednesday, November 11, the first such nationwide action since 2012.

Housing has become the main reason that families in Catalonia have lost purchasing power, as the rising costs have significantly impacted the ability to save, especially for those who live in rented accommodation.

Ramon Bastida, a professor at UPF Business School of Management, attributes the current situation to an imbalance between supply and demand, driven by population growth against a backdrop of stagnant construction, and the "virtual non-existence" of social housing.

"Demand is rising significantly in recent years, while supply remains stagnant, which creates tension," says the director of the university’s Chair in Decent and Sustainable Housing.

Seasonal rentals and tourist apartments have "further complicated" access to housing, the expert notes. "We find ourselves in a rather extreme situation," says Bastida.

According to Claire Court, a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Barcelona (UB) and an expert on housing policy, this strained situation has also been driven by an increase in international investment in the real estate sector, which has led to "a certain convergence of prices" on a global scale.

Court notes that "many homes are built directly using international funds."