Experts recommend not allocating more than 30% of salary to housing payment. With a gross salary of 2,000 euros -the average salary according to the INE- we should limit this expense to 600 euros. With this criterion, we have searched the most used portals -Idealista and Fotocasa- in the two main cities of the Valencian Community. With a disappointing result.
The offer in Valencia is limited to small, one-bedroom apartments located in humble neighborhoods. Of the approximately 1,800 online advertisements that, on average, are advertised in the main real estate portals for housing to rent flats in Valencia, there are only seven of them whose maximum price is 600 euros.
In this search carried out on Monday, the results are three homes in the Idealista portal and another four in Fotocasa. The characteristics of all these floors are also very similar. These are small spaces, with a maximum of 60 square meters, in popular neighborhoods, with the exception of one offered in Ciutat Vella which, for 495 euros, rents a small one-bedroom studio on a third floor without elevator.
The districts in which the search for homes with a maximum ceiling of 600 euros is successful are Poblats Marítims, Patraix, Olivereta, Campanar, Jesús and Quatre Carreres, all on the outskirts of the city. One of the most demanding apartments in its rental conditions is located in the latter, because for a property of just 45 square meters with a room on the second floor without an elevator, they request 400 euros per month as long as a previous interview has been passed.
The objective of this is to corroborate the required conditions, which are to have been employed for three years without interruption and a monthly salary of more than 1,200 euros. Only after the owner verifies that these data are true, the owner agrees to show the apartment to the interested party who, however, can admire the photographs in the online offer where it is stated that this is especially small , because the fridge is in the dining room, placed right in front of the washing machine.
In the same search result, and close to 600 euros per month, there are two apartments with very similar characteristics: one-bathroom apartments, two bedrooms and 55 square meters that have received a 'face cleaning' (comprehensive reform and freshly painted walls give it away) to present itself with a renewed appearance, although its location is located in old farms, one of them in Rascanya and Campanar, respectively.
In Alicante, the offer for one or two people is somewhat more abundant. But without getting excited: 20 floors in Idealista and 14 in Fotocasa, which in some cases are the same. The abundance of small apartments in the area means that four apartments in La Albufereta are advertised, measuring 35 and 40 square meters, yes, in old buildings that are usually occupied in summer by vacationers who tend to pay a lot more.
The rest are studios or one-bedroom apartments in suburban neighborhoods, such as Colonia Requena, Virgen del Remedio, Juan XXIII, with just a couple of exceptions: a 28-meter apartment on Calle Mayor and a three-bedroom apartment on Campos Vasallo. , not far from the Market; both are offered at 600 euros and the photographs clearly indicate that they lived better times.
One of the most striking circumstances, both in Valencia and Alicante, is the abundant supply of rooms in shared apartments, which on many occasions compete in price with studios, since it is not at all strange that 500 or 600 euros are requested for a only bedroom as the area is fairly central. But at that price, for a family of three or four members, it's an impossible mission.
