Spain's bakala crowd gets its economic revenge on the swots

The bakala generation: how they got their homes paid off while the swots still carry a mortgage

Who is right when comparing the 1990s bakala clubber with the career-minded swot? The answer depends on when each of them bought their flat. The veterans of that Madrid nightlife scene hold an uncomfortable conclusion for those who stayed home.

The Radical, Paladium, Overdrive and Bacchata nightclubs drew an entire generation fresh out of secondary school. At 18, many of their patrons were already working in construction or in workshops. When property was not yet a bubble, they signed mortgages that are now fully paid off. Their classmates, by contrast, arrived late: they bought at the peak of the cycle, paying triple for a comparable home, and still owe. The result, as supporters of that lifestyle recall, is that the skilled worker owns his home at a historic price while the university graduate keeps paying disproportionate instalments.

The failure nobody counts

The other side of the story is harsher. The partying, the synthetic drug use and the brawls left dead and injured who did not always make the headlines. Some of those clubgoers ended up on a disability pension that is now seen as an income, and those who kept studying argue that their degree never translated into a financial advantage. The arguments clash relentlessly: the paid-off house versus the lifetime benefit.

From the nightclub to national politics

The nostalgia inevitably drifted into politics. Ceuta and Melilla, Catalan independence and the rise in immigration crept into the memory with a mix of anger and bewilderment. It is the typical drift of a generation that watches the country change and struggles to recognise in the present the places it once walked at night.

In the end, the only certainty is that buying before the bubble changes everything. And while everyone else gets tangled up in forecasts, those who have already paid off their mortgage sleep soundly.