Households and real estate: Strategies of accumulation and inequality in Spain, 2002-2017

Abstract

Real estate has traditionally been an important economic resource for Spanish households. The development of the real estate market in Spain during the 21st century brings forth two very different stories. The first story is one of obstacles to access housing. It has become increasingly hard to buy or rent a home. Housing prices have risen considerably in urban areas while people’s income changed very little. The second story is one of accumulation of properties. Housing has been, and continues to be, a form of saving, investment and speculation for small and large property-owners. Falling housing prices permitted resourceful households to accumulate more properties during the financial crisis. These two stories lead to the following question: How did changes in the ownership of properties impact inequality in Spain? In this Perspectives Demogràfiques, we analyse how developments in the real estate market are connected to wealth inequality in Spain. The results point at a polarization of access to property; both the number of households without property and the number of households with multiple properties increased over time. Because real estate is the most important form of household’s wealth, the accumulation of properties has become a non-negligible part of wealth inequality between households in Spain.