Cost of living in Spain

What is the cost of living in Spain? Below we look at rental prices, supermarket costs, utility bills and compare the cost of living in Spain to the cost of living in the UK.

Rentals

Rental in Spain is generally much cheaper than in the UK, in 2009 they began to fall and they have not increased in 2010. You need far less paperwork to take on a rental contract than you do in the UK. The usual requirement is one months deposit and a copy of your passport. Rentals on commercial properties are also cheaper than that in the UK. Prices that last year were fetching 900-1000 euros per month are now going for around 700 euros per month, or less. Landlords have found that their mortgages costs have dropped along with interest rates and also many more owners are looking to rent out their property long term whilst they wait for selling prices to increase. Thus there is more long term property on the market and landlord are having to keep rentals very competitive to secure a client. You will be expected to pay your electricity costs yourself and gas if available but any taxes for the community, rubbish removal etc will be paid for by the landlord.

Mortgages

In 2009 mortgages were around 5% in Spain, more expensive than in the UK. In 2010 they have fallen as interest rates have fallen but our Spanish mortgage is still much higher than our UK mortgages and by some measure. So mortgages in the UK are cheaper.

Utilities

Electricity is considerably more expensive than in the UK. Water however is surprisingly cheap. It is also on a meter. Electricity bills in Spain are paid monthly. You can arrange for your Spanish electricity bills to be paid by Direct Debit by your bank, you can pay in cash at a post office, (take your bill with you to be stamped) or one of the many banks that are listed on your electricity bill. Many areas of Spain do not have mains gas so people buy bottles which you can have delivered or buy directly from the local petrol station. You pay a deposit for the bottle which is then refunded upon its return. Most houses do not have central heating and you do need heating in the winter. It doesn’t get as cold in Southern Spain as in the UK, but you do need something, so factor this into your costs. This year we turned the heating on at the end of November and only first thing in the morning and then once again for a couple of hours later in the evening, so heating costs are much less than in the UK. Most properties do have a fireplace and wood is available from all petrol stations or you can have it delivered which is much cheaper in the long run if you are a log fire fan, but of course you will need somewhere to store the logs. I have also heard that in Andalucia there are grants available for those fireplaces with glass and vents which pump the heat into the room. Most heat in a chimney goes up and this is much more effective. If you are planning to put in a glass fronted vented fireplace then talk to the shop selling them about grants as the news that I heard was that half would be paid for via the grant in Andalucia. Worth investigating.

Cars

Second hand cars are much more dear than they are in the UK. However petrol and running costs are cheaper. Road tax is not expensive either. You get an MOT or ITV as it is called in Spain every 2 years once your car is over a certain age. The MOT is not done at a local garage as it is in the UK but at specific MOT places. Spain is also not as competitive when it comes to buying a new car and making good offers to persuade you to buy. So at present buying a new car in Spain is more expensive than in the UK. It is worth looking online to see if you can buy a left hand drive car and have it delivered. I have heard of a company in the UK doing this and the savings were enormous compared to buying it through a dealer here in Spain. Again if you are looking in Southern Spain head to Malaga or La Linea where there are better deals than in areas such as Marbella.

Supermarkets

El Campo, Mercadona and Lidl offer good quality but very good value food. Fresh fruit, vegetables and meat are cheaper than in the UK but you don’t get the range of offers that appear in the UK supermarkets. However often these offers in the UK persuade you to buy food that possibly you don’t really need so I have still found my supermarket bill much cheaper than when I lived in the UK. There are also markets where you can buy vegetables and fruit cheaply. Frozen ready made meals are not common so if you like to buy these and cannot do without your UK imports then you will not notice any change in your shopping bill price. On the Costa del Sol there is an Iceland that sells ready made frozen meals but they are more expensive than in the UK. If you buy fresh ingredients and make your food yourself then you almost certainly will notice that your supermarket bill is cheaper than the UK. Wine is much cheaper than in the UK. Lidl sells a good quality red wine for just over 1 euro. (2010)

Broadband

In Spain it is around 60 euros per month compared to around £10 in the UK and it is faster in the UK too! However I have heard that if you phone Telefonica and say can they do anything about their bill as you have seen broadband cheaper elsewhere they have reduced the monthly bill by as much as 20 euros per month. I haven’t tried this yet, but it is on my list of things to do…