Press Release 12/12/2013
The housing stock in the Basque Country grew by 7,620 units between 2011 and 2013
Two out of three buildings had a lift installed and nearly 80% had a mains gas supply in 2013
The housing stock in the Basque Country was 1,027,751 in 2013, with 7,620 dwellings more than two years before, according to data prepared by EUSTAT. Over half of the dwellings were located in Bizkaia, 533,387, accounting for 51.9% of the total. Gipuzkoa, with 334,418 dwellings, represented 32.5%, whilst the remaining 15.6%, 159,946 dwellings, corresponded to Álava.
If these figures are compared to those of the 2011 Population and Housing Census, the extra 7,620 dwellings meant an increase of 0.7%. This figure means that the average annual increase that occurred in the last five-year period (2006 to 2011) was almost maintained - an increase of 7,817 dwellings - far below that seen in the previous five-year period (2001 to 2006) which reached 20,486 dwellings per year.
Almost half (45%) of the growth in the Basque Country overall since 2011 occurred in Álava, clearly exceeding its population weight. Somewhat less, 39.8%, occurred in Bizkaia and the remaining 15.2% corresponded to Gipuzkoa, where there was a notable slowdown.
There were significant differences between regions, with the following regions experiencing a growth that stood out with respect to the Basque Country average: Llanada Alavesa (2.6%), Arratia-Nervión (2.5%), Gernika-Bermeo (2.4%) and Valles Alaveses (1.9%). At the other extreme, with the lowest growth, was the region of Tolosa, which showed no variation, followed by Bajo Deba (0.1%) and by Goierri, Alto Deba and Gran Bilbao, all three with a positive growth close to 0.2%.
Vitoria-Gasteiz was the capital with the highest growth in 2013, with an increase of 3%
Vitoria-Gasteiz was the capital that most increased its number of dwellings since 2011, by 2.74% (3,065 dwellings). In contrast, there was no significant difference between the increases of the other two Basque capitals: that of San Sebastián was 0.29% (257 additional dwellings) and that of Bilbao, 0.28% (452 additional dwellings).
In municipal terms, twenty municipalities experienced increases of 5% or more in their housing stock since 2011. The municipalities that stood out with growth above 10% were Ereño (24.8%), Arakaldo (16.1%), Mutiloa (15.4%), Armiñon (12.4%), Orendain (11.9%) and Aizarnazabal (10.3%). The municipalities that grew between 6% and 10% were Derio (8.6%), Getaria (8.5%), Añana and Urduliz (both 7.8%), Fruiz (7.3%), Idiazabal (6.9%), Ubide (6.4%) and Orduña (6%). Finally, those municipalities that grew by more than 5% with respect to 2011 were Navarniz (5.7%), Zaldibia (5.5%), Sondika, Baliarrain and Lemoiz (all three by 5.2%) and Baños de Ebro (5.0%).
Eight out of ten dwellings are used for habitual residence
If family housing stock is considered from the usage point of view, 84.8% of dwellings were used for habitual residence and the remaining 15.2% of family homes were empty or were used as second homes. Compared to the figure of the 2011 Population and Housing Census (84.5%), there was a 0.3 percent increase in dwellings used for habitual residence.
Bizkaia had the lowest proportion of second or empty homes: 14.3% of its total family housing stock, compared to 16.8% in Álava and 16% in Gipuzkoa.
In terms of regions, three stood out in Álava with a high proportion of second or unoccupied dwellings: Valles Alaveses (45.7%), Rioja Alavesa (45.2%) and Montaña Alavesa (45.1%).
In nearly half of Basque municipalities, one in four dwellings is not the primary dwelling and in a dozen of them the proportion exceeds 50%, notably Leza (68.8%), Añana (67.4%), La Bastida/Bastida (66.6%) and Sukarrieta (63.7%).
In the capitals the proportion of non-primary dwellings is far lower. The lowest is in Bilbao (11.2%), followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz (12%) and the highest is in San Sebastián (15.9%).
The average Basque family home was 40 years old, had a useable floor space of 87 m2, 5 rooms and 1 bathroom
The average age of the family housing stock in the Basque Country was 40.3, standing at 33.2 in Álava, 40.9 in Gipuzkoa and 42 in Bizkaia.
Regarding average useable floor space, Álava presented the largest family dwellings with 91.8 m2 of space, followed by Gipuzkoa with 86.8 m2 and Bizkaia with 85.5 m2, meaning an average useable floor space of 86.9 m2 for the Basque Country overall.
In terms of the number of rooms, three quarters of Basque family dwellings had 4 or 5 rooms (bedrooms, living room and kitchen) and, on average, 1.4 bathrooms. Less than one in a hundred dwellings, 0.8%, did not have a bathroom.
Two in three family dwellings had a lift in the building, which was an increase of two percentage points compared to 2011.
Over half of family dwellings, 54.4%, were located in buildings of over ten units and 7.4% were in buildings of over forty units. On the other hand, one out of every ten dwellings, 10.4%, were in single-family or two-family buildings.
In 2013 there was an increase of nearly 5 percentage points in gas supplied by pipe, with respect to 2011
Eight out of ten primary dwellings (79.2%) in the Basque Country had a natural gas or propane mains supply.
By province, the greatest increase occurred in Bizkaia, with 5 percentage points more than in 2011, followed by Álava with an increase of 4.9 percent. The variation in Gipuzkoa was also positive, but it dropped to 3.8 points.
Additionally, in five existing regions, the increase in this facility has exceeded 6 percentage points: Montaña Alavesa (10.4), Rioja Alavesa (8.4), Valles Alaveses (8.1), Gernika-Bermeo (7.9) and Tolosa (6.2).
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on municipal statistics on dwellings in the Basque Country