At what age do we leave home in Spain?

According to the latest Continuous Household Survey carried out by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the average age of emancipation in Spain continues to increase, reaching 29 years.

The data show that, in 2018, 53.1% of young people between 25-29 years old lived in their parents' house, which demonstrate a growth in relation to the previous years.

It also highlights the existence of large differences between sexes. While the percentage of women of that age range that still remain in the family home is 45.6%, in the case of men, it amounts to 60.5%.

In addition, the percentage of people between 30-34 years who continue to live with their parents increases, reaching 24.7%.

Average age of emancipation in the rest of Europe

According to the data provided by Eurostat, the average age of emancipation in the European Union is 26 years.

Spain is at the top of the list, being only surpassed by Croatia (almost 32 years), Slovakia and Malta (almost 31 years) and Italy (30 years).

On the opposite side of the table are Sweden (18 years), Luxembourg (20 years), Denmark (21 years) and Finland (22 years).

The main reason: housing prices

Housing prices, both purchase and rent, are the main reason why young Spaniards take longer to leave home.

Due to the current economic and labour conditions, the majority of young people can not afford to rent and, specially, to buy a house, which forces them to stay for a longer period of time at their parents' house.

But, what do young people prefer? To buy or to rent?

More and more young people prefer to buy than to rent a house.

Even though the option of renting continues to predominate compared to the purchase, the majority of people under 35 consider that it is more profitable to pay a mortgage than a rent.

The continued increase of rental prices, as well as the conception of housing as a source of investment and assets, takes young people to prefer the option of buying their own home. However, in most cases, this fact does not become a reality due to labour conditions and low savings capacity, which complicates the access to a mortgage.