Young Canary Islanders cannot rent a home alone even if they use their net salary in its entirety. This is according to data from the Emancipation Observatory, compiled by the Youth Council of Spain and the Canary Islands. In total, at the end of 2024, a person between 16 and 34 years old had to allocate their entire net salary plus 181 euros more to be able to rent a home alone.
The housing crisis on the islands and low wages mean that only 14.1% of young Canary Islanders are independent, a drop of six points compared to 2023 data. This independence is slightly higher among women (14.8%) than among men (13.4%).
This situation is more serious among young people between 16 and 24 years old, where only 4.9% were emancipated at the end of last year. In contrast, young people between 25 and 29 years old had an emancipation rate of 29.7%.
Rental prices continue to rise in the archipelago. They have reached an average of 1,128 euros per month, 10.2% more than a year ago. In contrast, young Canary Islanders have the lowest salaries in Spain, with an annual median of 11,364 euros, ahead of regions such as Extremadura and AndalusiaGiven the rise in rental costs and low salaries on the islands, a young Canary Islander must allocate 119.1% of their salary to afford housing aloneFaced with this, if instead of renting a house, they opted to pay the entrance fee for an apartment, they would need five years of net salaries. This cost is higher for women, who must allocate 108.2% of their income to be able to afford a home, compared to men, where it is reduced to 93.9%.Given these conditions, a young person could only afford to buy a house of up to 53.4 square meters or rent homes of up to 24.7 square meters.
