Balearic €1,308 rent pushes pensioners to share homes

In Palma, Mallorca, on Tuesday, 13 October, union official Yolanda Clavo lays out a stark gap: across the Balearic Islands, rent for a 65-square-metre home averages €1,308 a month, while the average retirement pension is €1,442. She says more older people are sharing homes with other older people who cannot afford to rent alone. Clavo, of the Comisiones Obreras trade union, speaks at the launch of a report on older people.

Others are leaving the islands. Clavo says the number of pensioners returning to their places of origin has risen over the past three or four years. Some leave their children in the Balearics. In some cases, pensioners who own a home on the islands can sell it and buy a cheaper one where they came from.

The squeeze is sharper for women, whose pensions average around €200 less than men’s. Across the Balearics, 217,205 people receive a pension, including 193,318 who receive a retirement pension.

Topics: Housing · Social affairs

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com