With the 30% rule -according to which it is not recommended to allocate more than a third of your salary to housing, either through a mortgage or by rent-, finding a flat in the central area of Madrid is an almost impossible mission . Unless you agree to live in a studio that barely exceeds 25 square meters, in an apartment with a decoration from the first seasons of Cuéntame or in an apartment where "facelift" is the most decent euphemism to avoid saying " comprehensive reform due to risk of collapse".
After limiting the geographic filters to the interior of the M-30 and the economic ones to a maximum monthly payment of 650 euros, the search engine of the main real estate portals on the Internet produced just a handful of matches at the beginning of the week. Specifically three:
There would be four adjusting up to 675 euros. And all floors with only one room, although in some of the advertisements they speak of two when adding the living room.
Such a shortage is discouraging but understandable considering that, since the emergence of Airbnbs, six out of ten homes for rent in Madrid have been transformed into tourist apartments -Inside Airbnb has accounted for 8,300 in the central almond- thus contributing to reducing the offer and to increase prices with annual increases of 12.3%, according to data from Idealista.
It is time to take the map, paper and pen to write down the pros and cons of each floor. And do it without high expectations. Because the recurring mantras of motivational coaching such as "dreams, if they are followed, end up coming true" have been incompatible with the real estate market for some time now.
It is common for advertisements for flats of a few meters and more than 1,000 euros per month to go viral on social networks. Or like the "coquettish" 5 m² apartment that was sold in Madrid for 65,000 euros thanks to a legal vacuum.
The search begins in the vicinity of Santa María de la Cabeza, south of the capital. The advertisement speaks of a 28 m² ground floor without elevator, but it goes without saying that the entrance is in an interior patio. Right next to the community rubbish bins.
Inside, the space appears renovated, it even has an air conditioning unit that is almost essential in Madrid with the temperatures that are reached in summer. But other appliances are in short supply.
There is a two-burner ceramic hob on top of which is a cupboard of the same width. Therefore, the pans and saucepans to be stored must have removable handles and the cups, if you want to store two at a time, must be placed in profile and with the handle facing forward. The price is 650 euros.
A little further north, in Malasaña, another option appears. And for 600 euros. It is a 35 m² interior apartment where the tenant must be a lover of heights and not experience vertigo.
"What is the use of a high ceiling if I don't have light coming in through the windows?", the owners must have thought when placing a half-height over the kitchen and bathroom in which, through a ladder, you can access a platform in the one to store everything that it does not matter not to have at hand such as a book, a television, a computer, a music player, a coat rack, a chair... or, in short, everything that is not a sofa and a table where you can eat sitting on the sofa, obviously.
The same happens in the room without doors in which again you have to use a ladder to access the bed
-people with a small bladder refrain-, while in the lower space there is a cupboard and a folding table that can be configured as a work corner in which, except for the Oompa-Loompas from Charlie's chocolate factory, no average-sized person you can stand up.
The good thing is the window, which, being located at half height, partially cools the bed area that ventilates the desk area. Unlike the one at the entrance, it lacks bars. Although not much current can be expected either because it measures the same as the hatch of a submarine.
The bathroom, on the other hand, does have the regulatory height while the width allows you to use the toilet while you wash your feet with one hand in the shower tray and with the other you brush your teeth in the sink. A 3x1 with which to save time when grooming.
The search begins to be frustrating in the downtown district, where 20 m² studios can cost 1,150 euros. But, expanding the search radius, an offer appears for "a flat" on Serrano street for 650 euros and whose photo heads this article.
Whoever doesn't live on the golden mile is because they don't want to, should be the title of the advertisement for this attic storage room converted into substandard housing in which, to reflect its spaciousness, the landlord had to choose to take an overhead photo because between a wall and the other does not even allow the camera to focus on its objective. To the point that, within a few hours, Idealista placed the ad in quarantine with a "pending" rating, waiting for its "quality team to review it."
The fact of residing in the same block where some of the most famous fashion stores in Madrid are located is not worth anything since, in case of renting this minimalist duplex, you have to choose between living in it or using it as a closet for clothes. Both functionalities are incompatible.
Of course, the front of the kitchen has a wonderful mirror so that, like the 90s set of the successful Surprise Surprise by Isabel Gemio, the cubbyhole looks twice as big. Or twice as hovel, that the mirrors are loaded by the devil.
By the way, not having space for even a simple bedside table is no excuse for reading with an indirect light, as landlords have solutions for everything, even for screwing into the stairs, and at the edge, a night lamp. And if in the middle of the night you fancy a warm Cola Cao, just stretch out your arm to prepare it because the microwave is at the same height as the bed.
The last house available for less than 650 euros is in Valdeacederas, next to the Plaza Castilla interchange. It is advertised as a two-bedroom apartment although, in reality, it only has one since the other is simply the living room.
In this 35 m² house, the bathroom is an extension of the kitchen. They even share tiles because, in all probability, the minimum order was enough to tile three bathrooms as small as this one. The good thing about being close together is that when your sink fills up, you can wash the dishes in the sink without taking more than two steps.
A double bed enters the room. In fact, it's hard to get it to come off, because the box spring fits so tightly that tucking in the hem of the sheets is guaranteed to scratch your knuckles. Without leaving the upper floor, a hole has also been made for a closet. But, being in the part with less height, there is no room to hang a coat unless you fold it in half.
In search of getting the photo with the widest possible space, the arrangement of the living room means that the first thing one stumbles upon when entering the apartment is the sofa, to get comfortable as soon as one literally steps foot in the house.
There is also a low table for the television, but considering that a dining table for two people had to be included, the TV and the sofa are not aligned, so watching your favorite series reaches a new level by having to watch it from singing. An unparalleled experience for just 650 euros per month.
30% of wage earners in Spain earn less than 1,366.5 euros gross per month, according to INE data. The average salary in 2021 was 2,086.8 euros gross per month -in the Community of Madrid it is higher than the average, with 2,368.0 euros- while the median salary stood at 1,757.4 euros.
This economic barrier is insurmountable when personal needs require a two-bedroom apartment since, except for four cases where a study table and a bed cannot fit in these rooms at the same time, the first minimally satisfactory searches appear from 900 euros per month rent.
With all this, the almost obligatory option is to look for a flat outside the central almond. More specifically in the south and southeast area -Villaverde and Puente de Vallecas- where most of the homes offered are concentrated. These are neighborhoods in which the price per square meter is around 12.5 euros but which involves more than 80 minutes of public transport per day if the office is in the north of the city.
