Balearic housing costs swallow 38.9% of income

Mallorca and the rest of the Balearic Islands face a housing squeeze: people paying rent or a mortgage spend an average of 38.9% of their income on it. Triodos Bank released the study on Friday, 9 October 2026. Among Balearic respondents, 95.8% say finding and paying for a home is very or extremely difficult.

The Spanish average for rent or mortgage payments is 32%. The Bank of Spain and financial institutions recommend spending no more than 30% of income on them. In the Balearics, 18% of respondents spend more than half their income on housing, while another 21.5% spend between 40% and 50%.

Buying a home remains out of reach for many

Over the past three years, 36.1% of Balearic respondents have tried to buy a home. Only 33.8% of those who tried succeeded, compared with 44.1% across Spain. Nationwide, the most commonly cited barrier to buying is the price of homes compared with incomes.

Renting is no easy fallback. Some 42% of Balearic respondents say they or someone close to them tried to rent a home in the past two years. Of those who tried, 60.2% found one. The study also says 13.2% of people in the Balearics have had to move home or neighbourhood for financial reasons in recent years.

More public housing tops the list

Asked what authorities should do, 63.7% of Balearic respondents back building more public housing. Another 54.6% support limiting home purchases for investment by foreign buyers, while 52.5% favour limits or controls on rent or sale prices.

Foreign buyers accounted for 32.2% of all home purchases in the Balearics in the first half of 2026, according to the College of Registrars of Spain. That figure covers all purchases by foreign buyers, not just those made for investment.

Topics: Housing · Politics · Economy

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com