The housing crisis is destroying the savings paradigm and leading Spaniards to permanently ‘prepare for the worst’.

Household saving behaviour in Spain has undergone a profound and seemingly structural shift. What initially emerged as a temporary precautionary response during the pandemic has not reversed with economic recovery. Instead, it has become entrenched, even in a context of solid growth, job creation and relatively positive macroeconomic prospects.

Today, household saving rates stand at historically abnormal levels. In 2024, savings reached 13.6% of disposable income and, although a slight decline is expected in 2025, the rate will remain close to 13%, well above the long-term average of 8.6% recorded between 2000 and 2019. This breaks with the traditional pattern of economic expansions, where improved confidence typically leads to higher consumption and lower savings.

More striking than the aggregate level, however, is who is saving. For the first time, lower-income households are contributing significantly to the increase in savings, contradicting standard economic theory, which assumes that the marginal propensity to save rises with income. In the current environment, even households with limited financial capacity are making extraordinary efforts to set money aside.

The most compelling explanation lies in the housing crisis. Persistently rising house prices and rents have made access to housing far more demanding in terms of upfront savings than in previous decades. The need to accumulate an increasingly large down payment, combined with high rental costs that erode disposable income, is pushing households to save defensively, even when financial margins are extremely tight.

This dynamic affects middle- and high-income groups, but is particularly concerning among lower-income households. For many, saving has become the only—albeit distant—path to reducing vulnerability in the rental market, especially in the face of sharp rent increases upon contract renewal and limited alternative supply. Housing has thus become not just a consumption or investment decision, but the central factor shaping household financial behaviour.

Immigration also plays a role in this shift. Migrant populations tend to display higher saving rates, whether to send remittances to their countries of origin or to build a financial buffer for future stability. Sustained immigration inflows are increasing the weight of savings among lower-income segments, reinforcing this structural change.

At the core of this new paradigm lies a fundamental imbalance: housing prices have risen far faster than wages. While house prices have increased by more than 40% over the past decade and rents by over 70%, real wages have barely grown. The result is a loss of purchasing power that forces households to sacrifice present consumption in an attempt to secure future stability.

All indications suggest that this behaviour is not temporary. Structural housing shortages, limited new construction and expanding demographics point to persistently high prices in the years ahead. At the same time, the recent inflationary shock has left a deep mark, particularly on lower-income households, reinforcing a precautionary saving mindset that is now evident across Europe.

In short, saving is no longer driven solely by fear of economic downturns, but by a more enduring reality: the growing difficulty of accessing adequate housing. A quiet but far-reaching shift that is redefining financial decision-making for millions of households.