The percentage of households that own their main home has decreased appreciably since 2017, when it was 75.9%, until the end of 2020, when it stood at 73.9%. Generalized falls are observed in all groups, but where they are especially notable is among households in which the head of the family is under 35 years old, where they fall 5.2 percentage points (pp), in those between 35 and 44 years old (5.6 pp), the households in which they were self-employed (4.9 pp) and those in which they were unemployed or otherwise inactive (5.6 pp).
These are the data provided by the household financial survey (EFF) corresponding to the period between the end of 2017 and the end of 2020, published this morning by the Bank of Spain. A notable element of the survey is that between 2011 and 2020, the ownership rate of the youngest households, those in which the head of the family is less than 35 years old, fell 33 percentage points, from 69.3% to 36.1%.
The estimate that households have made of the value of their main home shows that, for the owners, the median value of this home increased by 6.6% in the three years studied. A period, from 2017 to 2020, very particular because it includes the first two years with modest GDP growth, slightly above 2%, and also the pandemic and the isolation measures that from March 2020 caused a deep contraction of the Spanish economy.
The survey also indicates that 45.3% of households owned real estate assets other than the main home. It is a percentage that increases with income, but even at the bottom of the income distribution there is a percentage of 26% of owners of secondary homes, lots and farms.
Regarding the level of income, in relation to the previous survey, the report shows that economic growth drove the increase in income, although with significant differences between groups. The average annual income of Spanish households in 2019 was 38,900 euros and the median income was 29,400. The distribution is as expected, with median income peaking for households in which the head of household is between 55 and 64 years old, and both mean and median incomes increase with education level and college graduation. If the labor situation is examined, the households in which the head of the family is self-employed are the ones with the highest average incomes.
The average household income increased by 10.7%, while the median income increased by 14.1%. These are increases that show that the growth trend already observed previously was accentuated in these three years with more and more generalized increases. There is an increase in median income in almost the entire distribution, except for the sector with the lowest incomes, where it decreased.
There are facts that remain unchanged from previous surveys. As a small group of the population monopolizes a high percentage of the total income of the economy. As an example, the 1% of households with the highest income hold 8.6% of the total, and that if we expand to the 10% of households with the highest income, they already have more than 30% of the total income.
Another recurring element is that education is a key determinant of income level. It is observed that when the head of the family has a level lower than the baccalaureate, the median income remains at 21,900 euros; while if you have university studies, the highest income rises to 46,700 euros.
95.6% of families had some type of bank account to make payments. The median balance in the 2017-2020 period increased substantially, 54% compared to the previous period, going from 4,500 to 6,900 euros. The median balance increases are substantial in all groups, except in households in which the head of the family was unemployed, where the increase is modest, and in those with less income, where the median balance was reduced.
