20 years saving to buy an apartment

In Catalonia, in 2025, 158,000 home sales have been formalized. According to the College of Notaries, 46% were made without a mortgage, that is, in cash. If we consider that the average price of a home in Catalonia is around 220,000 euros, the data is, to say the least, surprising. But there's more: in 2024, this percentage reached 49%.

What is this phenomenon due to? Mainly, three buyer profiles are involved: investment funds, people selling a home to buy another, and households with accumulated savings. It is here that a key issue arises: the difficulty of saving these amounts, especially among the youngest. In parallel, another phenomenon gains weight: donations from parents to children, which, according to the same College of Notaries, are growing at a rate of 20% per year.

Let's do some quick numbers. To buy a property for 220,000 euros without financing, you need around 250,000 euros if we add taxes and expenses. A couple with a monthly income of 3,500 euros who manages to save 1,000 euros a month will have to allocate more than 20 years to it. And this without considering the effect of inflation on the price of housing. For a family without significant prior assets or family help, buying a property with cash is simply unattainable.

Accumulated wealth weighs more and more, and the saving capacity generated by work weighs less and less. When almost half of the sales are made with cash, access to housing ceases to depend solely on income and becomes strongly conditioned by family origin. At the same time, this reality further strains the market, as buyers with liquidity compete with an advantage over those who need financing. The result is a cycle that hinders access to ownership for new generations.