Press Release 17/07/2015
On 1 January 2014 in the Basque Country there were 6,000 dwellings more than one year before
Two out of three buildings had a lift installed and nearly 80% had a mains gas supply
The housing stock in the Basque Country was 1,033,801 on 1 January 2014, 6,050 dwellings more than one year before, according to data prepared by Eustat.
Over half of the dwellings were located in Bizkaia, 535,517, accounting for 51.8% of the total; Gipuzkoa, with 336,558 dwellings, represented 32.6%, whilst the remaining 15.6%, 161,726 dwellings, corresponded to Álava.
If these figures are compared to those of 2013, the extra 6,050 dwellings meant an increase of 0.6%. Over the five-year period 2006-2011 the average annual increase was 7,817 dwellings, whilst over the previous five-year period 2001-2006 there were 20,486 extra dwellings per year.
The trends varied in intensity between Provinces: Álava had the greatest growth, at 1.1%, followed by Gipuzkoa, at 0.6%, and Bizkaia, 0.4%.
There were also significant differences between regions, with the following regions experiencing a growth that stood out with respect to the Basque Country average: Tolosa (1.3%), Llanada Alavesa and Alto Deba (1.2%) and Valles Alaveses (1.0%). At the other extreme was the region of Bajo Bidasoa (0.1%), followed by Gernika-Bermeo (0.2%) and Markina-Ondarroa and Gran Bilbao, which both grew by 0.3%.
Vitoria-Gasteiz was the capital with the highest growth, with an increase of 1.2%
Vitoria-Gasteiz was the capital that most increased its number of dwellings in 2013 with 1.352 extra dwellings (1.2%). The increase in the number of dwellings in San Sebastián was 0.6%, equal to the Basque Country average, with 512 additional dwellings, and in Bilbao there was an increase of 0.2%, with 340 new dwellings.
In municipal terms, twenty municipalities experienced increases of 2% or more in their housing stock in 2013. The municipalities that stood out with growth above 5% were Berantevilla (8.3%), Anoeta (6.5%) and Iruña de Oca (5.4%).
Eight out of ten dwellings are used for habitual residence
Regarding use, 84.9% of family dwellings were used for habitual residence, whilst 15.1% were empty or used as second homes. Compared to the figure for 2013 (84.8%), the percentage of main dwellings was almost unchanged.
Bizkaia had the lowest proportion of second or empty homes: 14.4% of its total, compared to 15.2% in Gipuzkoa and 17.1% in Álava.
By region, three regions in Álava stood out for the high percentage of second or empty homes: Valles Alaveses (46.1%), Montaña Alavesa (45.8%) and Rioja Alavesa (45.3%).
In nearly half of Basque municipalities, one in four dwellings is not the habitual residence and in thirteen of them the proportion exceeds 50%, notably Leza (68.9%), Labastida/Bastida (66.7%), Añana (66%) and Sukarrieta (63.9%).
In the capitals the proportion of non-primary dwellings is far lower. The lowest is in Bilbao (11.4%), followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz (12.3%) and the highest is in San Sebastián (15.7%).
The average Basque family home was 41 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 41.1, standing at 34 in Álava, 41.7 in Gipuzkoa and 42.9 in Bizkaia.
Regarding average useable floor space, Álava presented the largest family dwellings with an average of 91.9 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 0.6 percentage points compared to 2013.
Over half of family dwellings, 54.6%, 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%, was single-family or belonged to a two-family building.
In 2014 there was an increase of 0.3 percentage points in gas supplied to the building by pipe, with respect to 2013
Eight out of ten primary dwellings (79.5%) in the Basque Country had a natural gas or propane mains supply.
By province, the greatest increase occurred in Álava with 0.5 percentage points more than in 2013. In Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia the variation was also positive, by 0.3%. In three regions the increase in this facility was of nearly one percentage point: Estribaciones del Gorbea and Tolosa (0.9 percentage points) and Cantábrica Alavesa (0.8 percentage points).
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 statistics on municipal dwellings in the Basque Country