The traditional families and the type of homes most usual no longer go hand in hand. The latest studies describe a diverse panorama with diverse real estate needs.
Spanish diversity of households is in tune with the changes in the global society, as we could read recently through the forecasts of the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Today it is the social diversity, the new habits of consumption and the labor mobility that define the typology of housing that best suits each family.
This gives good account of the recent report ‘Tell me who you live with and I’ll tell you what your home is like. An X-ray of Spanish families homes’, prepared by the Línea Directa insurance company.
New and traditional families
Next to the homes of all the life, new types of familiar unit begin to gain weight.
People who live alone, whether singles or not, are gaining weight. In fact, they aim to become one of the major residential interest groups of the coming decades.
There are also abundant, well-off and childless couples (‘dinks’). Mostly professionals who postpone the decision to extend the family or who directly discourage it
Nor should we forget single-parent families with dependent children. A group still small but in constant growth.
Among the three types of units, couples with dependent children remain the most frequent despite weight loss at the population level.
Evolution of types of households
The last ‘Continuous Household Survey (ECH)‘, prepared in April 2016 by the INE, gives some glimpses of where the most common types of households are going.
In Spain, couples with children continue to represent the most common type of household, with 6.8 million family units (34% of the total).
However, they are now followed by singles with almost 4.6 million households (25%). And within a short distance the so-called ‘dinks’, couples with two wages and no children in charge that account for 21% of the total.
Finally we find single-parent families with 1.9 million households, which represent 8% of the total.
Typical housing typology
The characteristics of the house evolve proportionally to the types of families more frequent in each moment.
Among the family units with or without dependent children, different needs are detected.
The owners of a traditional home put in value those houses that have storage and swimming pool.
Couples without children (‘dinks’) opt for properties that have a gym in the building. A matter that prevail to have mascot at home. Being of the groups with less domestic animals.
At the level of housing measures there are also differential facts. In Spain, with an average size of 50 to 100 m2, the ‘singles’ bet on floors of 50 or less meters. While the average traditional family is interested in homes of more than 100 meters.
Property owned or for rent?
In the discussion between buying or renting, the Línea Directa report puts value on leasing among the new types of homes.
The percentage of single people and couples with no children is close to half of its members. Among the ‘dinks’ there are 45% of tenants and among the ‘singles’ 38%.
At the other end we find the traditional families. 17% of couples with dependent children live on rent.
A group that bets to take out a mortgage for the purchase of housing.
