How much you need to earn to rent or buy a studio in Spain's main cities

Accessing affordable housing is becoming increasingly difficult in Spain due to rapidly increasing rents and the lack of supply.

And it's particularly challenging for single people who can’t share the financial burden with a partner, or those who want to live independently in their own place.

If you don’t want to rent a room in a shared flat, the most affordable type of home to buy or rent is a studio apartment.

According to a study published by property portal Idealista, you need a minimum net annual income of just €18,080 to be able to afford to buy un estudio in Spain, paying an average monthly mortgage payment of €452.

The average cost of a studio apartment in Spain is €134,935.

In addition to monthly mortgage payments, you would also have to have a total of €40,480 for a deposit, which would be required to cover 20 percent of property and approximately 10 percent of expenses and taxes.

On the other hand, if you choose to rent a studio, the average amount of income you would need in Spain rises to €32,000 net per year if you were paying €800 per month, without exceeding 30 percent of your income.

Therefore, it’s much more financially viable to buy a studio, providing you can get that all important deposit together. Of course this also depends on where you live in the country as prices vary dramatically.

In order to carry out its research Idealista has used the criteria that monthly rent or mortgage repayments should not be above 30 percent of a person's net earnings per month, what's known as the standard 30 percent rule for housing.

Buying a studio in a city in Spain

Buying a studio is most expensive in Madrid. Here you would need to earn €32,160 net per year, in addition to paying the down payment. This is because prices are currently the highest there with a studio averaging €239,831.

This is the only city, along with Palma de Mallorca (where you need to earn €31,560), which exceeds the €30,000 net income threshold. In Palma, a studio apartment costs an average of €205,000.

Madrid and Palma are followed by San Sebastián (€27,480), Valencia (€27,120), Granada (€26,360), Barcelona (€26,280), Segovia (€25,960), and Pamplona (€25,480).

If you earn under €25,000 a year you could choose to buy in Bilbao where you would need to earn €24,960, Málaga (€24,160), Seville (€24,000), or Alicante (€22,680).

The city where you’d need to earn the least is Santander. Here you would only need to earn €9,240 net to qualify for financing, provided you have the down payment.

This is followed by other more affordable cities such as Tarragona (€9,640) and Ciudad Real (€10,040).

Renting a studio in a city in Spain

If you want to rent a studio, a single person in Barcelona would need to earn €47,000 net per year, the highest amount out of any city. This is because the average rent for a studio in the Catalan capital is €1,175 per month.

In Madrid, you would need to earn €40,880 with rent for a studio averaging €1,022.

In third place is Valencia with €40,000 necessary yearly net earnings. These are followed by Palma where you would need to earn €38,000, San Sebastián with €35,960, Bilbao with €34,000 and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria €33,400.

Next it’s Málaga where you would need €32,000, and in Alicante you would need €32,000.

The place where you would need to earn the least to rent is Ciudad Real. Here you would need to earn €16,400 net to rent a studio, while in Palencia the income would rise to €18,000 net.

Then there are cities where the financial effort to rent isn't rock-bottom but better than the national average. These are cities such as Córdoba, Granada, Zaragoza, Murcia or Almería, where the net yearly income needed to rent a flat is between €20,000 and €24,000.