Buying a home in Spain takes almost 8 years of salary: how many it takes on the Costa del Sol

The effort needed to buy a home in Spain has risen 3.6% over the past year: a standard 90-square-metre home, valued at around 195,000 euros, now costs almost eight years of full gross salary. That is the conclusion of the latest report from the valuation firm Grupo ST, published on 1 October 2026. On the Costa del Sol the sums are considerably tougher: at the prices in our own catalogue, the same home is equivalent to about 17 years of that salary.

How many years of salary does it take to buy a home in Spain?

According to Grupo ST, almost eight years of full gross pay, without spending a single euro on anything else. The firm's effort index rose 3.6% year on year and 0.6% on the previous quarter. The reason is simple: house prices are rising by around 8% a year while wages are barely moving.

The report's other indicator, the accessibility index, measures whether a household on an average salary can buy a standard home with reasonable financing. It stands at 80 points, 8% lower than a year ago and 3.6% lower than a quarter ago. The equilibrium level is 100, and no Spanish region reaches it.

How much have house prices risen according to Grupo ST?

The firm puts the average price of housing, new and resale, at 2,173 euros per square metre at the end of the first half of 2026, 8.1% higher than a year earlier. Its forecast for December is 2,255 euros per square metre, which would mean ending the year with an 8.2% rise. By region, the picture looks like this:

The Valencia region shares the biggest annual rise with the Balearic Islands, at 9.3%, while Castilla y León posts the most moderate, at 6.2%. The report does not publish figures for Andalusia. For reference, the INE put the rise in Andalusia at 11.9% year on year in the second quarter.

How many years of salary does a 90 m² flat cost on the Costa del Sol?

To bring the figure down to our area, we applied the same standard 90-square-metre home to the median prices in our Costa del Sol market report, updated in October 2026, and compared it with the Grupo ST benchmark: 195,000 euros equals almost eight years of pay. This is our own estimate, with two caveats. Our report reflects asking prices rather than valuations, and it uses the same national reference salary rather than local wages.

The conclusion is clear. The median price per square metre on the Costa del Sol is more than double the Grupo ST national average, and in Marbella it is almost three times higher. Someone buying here on an average Spanish salary needs between 10 and 22 years of full gross pay, depending on the town. That is why a large share of demand comes from foreign buyers and residents earning above the average.

Why does the effort to buy a home keep rising?

The report points to three causes that reinforce each other:

• Little new construction. Few new homes are reaching the market, so demand shifts to resale homes, and in high-pressure areas there are not enough of those either.
• Building keeps getting more expensive. The average construction cost has reached 1,470 euros per square metre, 11.08% more than a year ago and about 195 euros more than two years ago.
• Wages are not keeping pace. With prices rising by around 8% a year and pay almost flat, every quarter it takes more months of work to pay for the same home.

There is one nuance: confidence in the sector is cooling. Grupo ST's real estate confidence index fell to 56.2 in the third quarter, 3.1% lower than in the previous quarter and 4.6% lower than a year ago. It is still above 50, the threshold between optimism and pessimism, but it no longer signals the same euphoria.

What does it mean for anyone looking to buy on the Costa del Sol?

With Grupo ST forecasting that 2026 will close 3.8% above the June price, waiting for prices to fall does not look like a sound short-term strategy. What buyers can control is choosing the right area and the right type of property. The gap between towns is huge: the same 90 square metres cost around 250,000 euros in Vélez-Málaga and more than 530,000 euros in Marbella.

It is also wise to arrange financing before you start looking. Knowing how much the bank will lend you and how much savings you need for the deposit, taxes and costs means you will not lose the right home by arriving too late. At EVS PROPERTY GROUP we help you compare towns with real market data and find the home that fits your budget.

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