Debate: 36,000-euro flats for Spain's 1970s generation?

The ghost of 400,000-peseta flats reignites the generational war

Access to housing, a taboo that fractures Spanish society, is once again at the centre of debate. The idea that a past generation bought their home for the equivalent of 36,000 euros today, while young people struggle to access prohibitively priced properties, has unleashed a storm of recriminations and conflicting data. The controversy, fuelled by figures suggesting that a 150-square-metre flat on the Castellana was bought for 60,000 euros in today's money, focuses on the supposed real estate 'pyramid scheme' and the political management of recent decades.

The price of housing: a gift or a lottery?

The starting point of the controversy lies in the value of properties in the 1970s. It is argued that a three-bedroom flat, bought for 400,000 pesetas (about 36,000 current euros), now sells for 300,000 euros. This abysmal difference, amounting to 264,000 euros, is seen by some as a political gift to a generation that, according to this view, did not strive hard enough. It is estimated that the average salary in 1976, equivalent to about 22,060 gross euros per year today, allowed the purchase of a home in just two years by dedicating one's entire salary. One testimony points to the purchase of a house with a garage and storage room for the equivalent of 6,000 euros in 1975, paid off in five years and now valued at half a million euros.

Starvation wages or real purchasing power

The discussion becomes more complicated when analysing salaries of the time. While some maintain that they were "perversos" and that most of the population had no access to property, others argue that purchasing power made it easier to buy a home than now. The average annual salary in 1976 is put at 280,000 pesetas, equivalent to 22,060 gross euros today. Mortgage payments then, although proportionally high relative to salary, were fixed and inflation, running at around 15%, meant the real burden decreased over time. Against this, it is argued that today's salaries, even for university graduates, are comparatively lower than those of engineers or technicians in the 1980s, who earned five times more than their counterparts today.

The land 'scam' and housing policy

Criticism extends to housing policy, pointing out that supply shortages and speculation have driven up prices. The mass construction of VPO (Viviendas de Protección Oficial, officially protected housing) in the 1960s and 1970s is mentioned, in contrast to the paralysis of recent decades. The concentration of real estate ownership in the hands of vulture funds and foreigners is another point of friction, suggesting that policies have benefited "international usury" rather than citizens. The lack of new housing construction to accommodate a growing population is identified as the fundamental cause of the imbalance between supply and demand. The regime of '78, according to this view, has perpetuated a system with "many interests among landowners, rentiers and real estate agents to keep the bubble from bursting".

A gap that does not close

The conversation reflects a deep division. On the one hand, the sense of grievance among younger generations, who see an unsustainable mortgage future. On the other, the defence that every era had its difficulties and that access to property in the past, although nominally cheaper, involved other sacrifices. Comparing eras, with radically different salaries, interest rates and life expectancies, seems complex. The debate underscores a reality: housing remains the main obstacle to youth emancipation and a constant source of social and economic tension in Spain.