Overview
- The Instituto Galego de Estatística survey published Friday found housing costs are a heavy burden for about 420,000 households, or 38% of Galicia’s roughly 1.1 million households.
- Renters are hardest hit with more than half reporting hardship, while 68.8% of households own their home outright and just 16.7% live in rental housing.
- Galicia’s housing stock is very old with roughly 40% of homes built more than 50 years ago, 49% built 20–49 years ago, and only about 2% under ten years old.
- Common habitability problems include dampness, poor thermal or acoustic insulation, and noise, with Pontevedra reporting nearly 23% of households bothered by noise and almost 33% by dampness.
- About 44% of households have made energy-efficiency upgrades such as LED lighting or newer appliances and the survey shows a small improvement in cost burden since 2020, but rising urban rents and low residential turnover suggest continued pressure on affordability and health risks for vulnerable families.