The Basque Observatory of Youth has published the report “Young people, emancipation and the need for housing in the Basque Country 2019” and has once again highlighted the consequences of the difficulties of access to housing in Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.

Most young people are able to leave the parental home between the ages of 30 and 34: 70.1% of the emancipated people in this age group are already 70.1%. People who settle on their own before that time reach one-third of the population in the 25-29 age group (33.1%). This is even worse among young people aged 18 to 24: Only 8.1 per cent live on their own.

Another consequence is that buying property remains the preferred option between the ages of 30 and 34, since six out of ten people support this option, although it requires high indebtedness. For children under 30 years of age, the preferred option is rental.

The study also offers a picture of the domestic typology of the emancipated young people: most are used houses, with an average age of 42 years and an area of 77 square meters. The cohabitation units of three people remain the most common among emancipated young people and the traditional model of a couple with a son or daughter remains the predominant one according to the report.

Another curious fact left by the report is that among the non-emancipated youth, since 2015 the percentage of those who would buy the housing has increased, to match those who would almost tend to rent (34.9% opt for the first and 36.8% for the second). On the contrary, the percentage of those who would wager on the option to buy rental formula falls markedly (21.1% in 2015 and 3.9% in 2019).