35.4% of Spaniards need to carry out renovations in their homes to improve energy efficiency, but have not been able to undertake them in the last five years, mainly due to the high cost involved, and Canary Islands is the region with the lowest percentage of the population that has carried them out, 11.2%.
The "Radiography of reforms to improve the energy efficiency of homes in Spain," prepared by the Esade Center for Economic Policy (EsadeEcPol) and published this Thursday, reflects that cost is the most frequent reason declared for not rehabilitating for 78% of those who need it.
Other reasons such as agreements with neighbors and the protection of historic buildings (11.6%), lack of interest (6.3%), or administrative problems (2.4%) are other reasons that prevent the execution of rehabilitation.
The main reason is the high cost, and in fact, those who need improvements and carry them out tend not to limit themselves to a single intervention for this reason. Nearly 70% carry out three or more simultaneously to make better use of fixed costs such as scaffolding, permits, technical project, or travel of work crews.
While 35.4% of the population has declared needing improvements in their homes and not being able to undertake them in the last five years, only 19.3% live in homes where they have been carried out, a figure higher than that recorded two years earlier (14.6% in 2023).
Nearly 65% of homes built before 1960 need improvements, which highlights that there is a direct relationship between the need for rehabilitation and the age of the building.
This study also reveals a gap in both tenure and income when it comes to carrying out these works, as the execution rate increases with income, going from 29% in the lowest income bracket to 51% in the fourth, which is the highest.
This data corresponds to owner-occupied homes, as if the execution rate of improvements in rented homes is analyzed, it is observed that income does not stimulate rehabilitation, as it varies between 17% and 22% because it would be the owner who would have to bear the full cost, while the tenants would enjoy it.
Navarre, Basque Country, and Balearic Islands lead
All autonomous communities have increased the percentage of the population that has made improvements to their homes in the last two years, and Navarre is at the forefront of the ranking.
27.9% of its citizens said they had made energy efficiency improvements, followed by Basque Country (26.7%) and the Balearic Islands (26.6%), with the latter experiencing the greatest growth since 2023, specifically 9.6 points.
However, the autonomous communities with the lowest percentage of the population that has implemented these improvements are the Canary Islands (11.2%), Andalusia (14.2%), and Extremadura (14.4%).