Fotocasa estimates that nearly two million Spaniards dedicate half or more of their salary to paying their mortgage

Regarding the disaggregated data of the report, the bulk of the mortgaged population spends between 20% and 40% of your income upon payment of the fee. 25%, one in four mortgagedallocates between 20% and 30% to the mortgage, while the 18% of the mortgaged see how among the 30% and 40% of your income goes towards paying your fee. Among the luckiest percentage, 21% of those with mortgages dedicate only the 10% and 20% of their income, and only 7% say they set aside less than 10% for their mortgages.

One of the most alarming data that emerges from the study reflects that 10% of the youngest Spanish mortgage holders, among 18 and 24 yearsthey are forced to set aside between 50% and 60% of their income to meet their quotas. This data reveals the enormous precariousness that young workers currently suffer, and the titanic effort they are forced to make to meet the deadlines of a mortgage.

According to Maria Matosdirector of Studies and spokesperson for Fotocasa, “these data reflect a debt well above what is recommended by official control bodies, such as the Bank of Spain, which establish that the prudent limit should be 35%«. According to Matos, this high salary effort puts the economic stability of households at risk, reducing their savings capacity. At the same time, it warns of the risk of late payment in case of job loss. Although thanks to the new context of lower interest rates, the situation of many families could improve significantly in the coming months.

The data, by age

Regarding the breakdown carried out by age, the analysis reflects that the 30% of Spaniards over 18 years of age in Spain are mortgaged. Putting the magnifying glass on this data, it appears that those who are between 45 and 54 years old are the age group that has the highest proportion of people taking out a mortgage: a 44% of them compared to 30% of the general average.

Although this segment has remained stable over the years, another group has experienced a significant decline: those made up of people from the 35 to 44 years old. Only twelve months ago this segment had a mortgage percentage of 45%, while current figures reflect a decrease to 37%, with a drop of eight points.

However, it is still the second group with highest percentage of mortgagedbecause the life cycle they go through is aligned with the possibility of having a mortgage. At both younger and older ages, the percentage of mortgaged decreases significantly. However, in a lower segment the opposite effect has occurred: Spaniards between 18 and 24 years old have taken out more mortgages, since their percentage has risen seven points, from 17% to 24%.

As for the rest of the sections, those that are between the 25 and 34 years They remain at 24% of mortgaged people, while the oldest, among those 55 and 75 yearsstand at 21%, with a slight decrease compared to the beginning of the year.

Fixed or variable rate

Turning the focus towards another aspect of the analysis, it is worth considering the type of mortgages chosen by the Spanish. This category is divided into two types: fixed mortgagesfor which an unchanged fee is paid, and the variable mortgagesfor which the fee will depend on an index to which it is referenced, usually the one-year Euribor.

In the case of fixed rate mortgages, they are more popular among youthswhile the variables are the majority among those over 35 years of age. Variable mortgages register a decline in all segmentsespecially among Spaniards aged 35 to 44: they go from 27% in 2023 to 17%, with a considerable drop in ten points. These variations respond to one explanation: those who took out mortgages before 2018 did so mainly at a variable rate. Since then, fixed mortgages have gained a lot of market shareuntil it became the formula most used by the Spanish.