Property News 10th October 2011

TNS conducted a study throughout Spain to see if, after more than three years of economic crisis, the recession and the bursting of the housing bubble, the habits of the Spanish have changed when it comes to housing – and the findings are clear.

84.3% of Spaniards continue to be in favour of owning a property.  Only among young people has renting increased.

The study showed figures representing a strong demand for houses that will be purchased as soon as access to credit improves.

Figures also show that the number of home owners will continue to increase.

64.9% of respondents felt that a house is the best legacy you can leave.

46% of Spanish claim to have paid in full the house where they live and 79% reported having applied for a mortgage at some time to finance the purchase of a property.

Therefore, despite the crisis, the Spanish still prefer to buy.

61% of Spanish live in the same province where they work and 62.5% in the same municipality.

73% travel less than 50 kilometres (return journey) to go to their workplace, and 58.8% admitted 
not ever having changed their place of residence for work.

When asked whether they would change their place of residence for work, 28% say 'No'. The remaining 72% might be willing to do so within Spain and only 29.4% of those would even consider moving away from Spain.

And to buy your own home, what is your ideal dream home? Does it differ much from those families have nowadays? When defining the characteristics of their ideal home, the Spanish are very clear: a house of 120 square metres with parking, storage room and garden. And while they wish for that ideal house, the actual average floor size is 96 square metres with a bathroom, and has neither a garage nor storage room as a general rule. The average Spanish home has three bedrooms, although a large proportion (42%) would ideally have four bedrooms.

As for the location, 39.8% of Spanish prefer small or medium-sized cities. Developments are chosen as the second option (21.1%), followed by rural areas (16.8%) and large cities (16.4%).