Salary increase in the Canary Islands has averaged 6 per cent over the last 10 years, while rents have skyrocketed by 85.9 per cent over the same period. This is according to the study ‘Relación de salarios y el alquiler de vivienda’, conducted jointly by Fotocasa and InfoJobs.
In 2022, salaries in the Canary Islands fell by 5.1 per cent, while the price of rental housing saw its eighth increase in nine years, rising by 16.9 per cent. Furthermore, in the last year, the average salary in both Canary Islands provinces has decreased and the price of rental housing has increased in both.
In particular, the Canary Islands have been the most affected by the decrease in salaries in 2022, as they have fallen from an average salary of 23,082 euros per year in 2021 to 21,897 euros in 2022 (i.e. 5.1 per cent less). In addition, prices for rental housing in the Canary Islands have increased by 16.9 per cent year-on-year, from 9.63 euros per square metre per month in 2021 to 11.26 euros per square metre per month in 2022.
Taking the last five years as a reference, Canary Islanders have lost an average of 1.6 per cent in purchasing power, while rents have increased by 56.8 per cent over this five-year period.
SPAIN: SALARIES UP 3.4 PER CENT AND RENTS UP 51.4 PER CENT IN 10 YEARS
Across the country, salaries have risen by 3.4 per cent and rents by 51.4 per cent over the past 10 years. In 2022 alone, the price per square metre for rental housing increased by 7.4 per cent and wages decreased by 0.7 per cent compared to the previous year. In this way, citizens have to raise 43% of their salary to pay their rent.
Broken down by autonomous communities, in 2022 the average salary decreased in seven of them, but the price of rental housing increased in all of them compared to the previous year. Moreover, the increase in housing prices exceeded 10% in five regions, while the increase in wages did not exceed 5% in any region of the country.
Along with the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands was the region where rental housing prices increased the most last year, with an 18.2% year-on-year increase and a 97.9% increase over the last 10 years, reaching 14.16 euros per month per square metre in 2022.
In addition, average salaries in the Balearic Islands have decreased by 1.2% in the last year, but have increased by 7% in the last 5 and 10 years, i.e. they have increased from 21,760 euros per year in 2012 to 23,292 euros per year in 2022.
SALARIES FALL IN 18 PROVINCES
In 18 of the 50 provinces surveyed, salaries fell in 2022 compared to the previous year, while house prices rose in 44 provinces. The employed in Las Palmas were the most affected by the drop in salaries in 2022, receiving €21,726 per year, 5.9% less than the previous year, while rental housing increased by 16.6% to €11.61 per square metre per month in 2022.
Toledo is the only province that benefited from the increase in the average salary in the province and the decrease in housing prices last year (2022), while in Palencia and León both the salary and the price of the annual rent decreased.
THE RISE OF RENTAL PRICES IS “FRENETIC”
The Director of Studies and spokesperson for Fotocasa, María Matos, has pointed out that the price of rent has risen “frenetically” over the last ten years, due to the promotion of rental housing as the main housing option for citizens after the economic crisis was overcome in 2014, increasing demand in the face of a “very scarce” supply.
For her part, the Director of Communications and Studies at InfoJobs, Mónica Pérez, pointed out that the average salary in Spain has “grown slowly” in the last 10 years after the 2008-2013 recession, a similar behaviour to the rest of the European Union, but with the drawback that Spain is “far from” the salaries of countries like Germany or France.