Victoria H. is 21 years old and from Zaragoza. He has been studying ADE at the Autonomous University of Madrid for three years and explains that every September he has paid more to stay first in a residence and then in a shared flat. "In the last year I have been paying 570 euros for a room in a six-room flat in the Moncloa area," he says. In September he will leave for Erasmus in Sweden and when he comes back he will look for him. "Next year I don't even know if I'll have a flat", he says without complaining much because other colleagues are in worse financial conditions.
His case faithfully reproduces the prototype of a young man who travels to Madrid or Barcelona to study. With the support of his parents in many cases, he faces a year of residence until he adapts to the city and then shares a flat. And if the situation allows it, you can even complement your studies with a season abroad. His experience is also similar to the others in another way: paying for a room is an increasingly important effort. Specifically, 25% higher than five years ago.
The Spanish platform specializing in renting for young people Live4Life calculates that the average price of a room in a flat shared with other university students in Madrid is now 510 euros, slightly higher than 490 euros in Barcelona. In both cities, sharing accommodation is equivalent to practically half the minimum wage, set at 1,080 euros, but the market dictates. It is enough to wander through the Facebook groups dedicated to housing students to check the budgets that are being prepared for the next year.
A room in Madrid, in the neighborhood of Moncloa, near Ciudad Universitaria, in a flat to be shared with eight people, with electricity, water, heating and Wi-Fi included these days costs 700 euros. In L'Esquerra de l'Eixample, in Barcelona, in a flat with nine other young tenants, the monthly payment is 748 euros. Added to this of course is the requirement to be clean and friendly.
The increase in the last year in Madrid was 6.2%, and 6.5% in Barcelona. Both cities are by far the most expensive. In Valencia the price is instead 330 euros, in Seville 320, in A Coruña 290, in Granada 260 and in Salamanca 220.
Despite everything, this market is heating up less than the conventional one. Idealista calculates that in Barcelona and Madrid the general rental prices are at historical highs, of 15.3 euros per square meter in the first case, with a year-on-year increase of 10.8%, and of 15.6 euros in the second, with increases of 9%.
The CEO of Live4Life, Alberto Añaños, explains that one of the effects of the new housing law is the increase in the supply of more informal rentals, among which are those intended for university students. "Many owners will move to the temporary rental market, which will significantly expand the offer and give young people a wide variety of possibilities," he says.
The forecast is that some landlords will avoid the 3% limit on rent increases by dedicating their flats to less stable tenants, which will give visibility to student rooms, which fall into this category, thanks to their high turnover . This modality is attributed to a lower risk of non-payment and employment.
This thesis is shared on the other side of the market by real estate companies dedicated to long-term rentals, such as Wolo. Its marketing director, Germán Rabellino, believes that one of the consequences of the new law is that "there are fewer and fewer homes available for long-term rental". If "confidence" is not given to the owner, "we will continue to see the migration of long-stay rentals to temporary or short-stay rentals," he says. The truth is that prices for college students continue to rise, and they are doing so at a rate that is at least comparable to inflation.
