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MOVING TO SPAIN

How much does it really cost to live in Spain’s Valencia in 2024?

Valencia is one of Spain's most popular destinations and cheaper than Barcelona and Madrid. Valencia-based journalist Conor Faulkner breaks down rent, transport, grocery and other costs in this lively coastal city in 2024.

How much does it really cost to live in Spain's Valencia in 2024?
Though property prices are rising in Valencia, they're still considerably lower than in Madrid and Barcelona. Photo: Veerle Contant/Unsplash.

If you’ve visited Valencia on holiday, you’ll know that Spain’s third city is a beautiful coastal place with great food, an international feel, the beach and Mediterranean just a short cycle or drive away, and an abundance of natural parks, famous museums and traditional towns nearby.

With a population of around 800,000, Valencia is big enough to feel like a city but not as intimidating as its bigger neighbours Madrid and Barcelona can feel at times.

All in all, Valencia is a fantastic place to visit and live.

But don’t just take my word for it – in 2020 Valencia was named the most desirable city for foreign residents in the world by the Expat Insider Survey published by InterNations. In fact, over 100,000 foreigners have made the eastern Spanish city their home in recent decades, and for good reason.

READ ALSO: Living in Spain: Why Valencia is officially the best city in the world for foreign residents

Valencia has long been a popular holiday destination, but how much does it really cost to live in Valencia?

How does Valencia compare?

According to calculations from Numbeo, for renting, Valencia is 26.1 percent cheaper than in Madrid, and 25.8 percent cheaper than in Barcelona. For transport costs, Valencia is around 25 percent cheaper than Madrid for a monthly travel card, and 16.7 percent cheaper than in Barcelona.

Numbeo estimates that a family of four in Valencia has estimated monthly costs of 2,378.60, not including rent, and a single person 674.70 without rent.

As is the case anywhere in the world, prices vary depending on the barrio (neighbourhood) you live in not only for renting and buying property, but even how much you pay for a beer and sandwich. That being said, we can take a look at some average prices to get a better idea of how much living in Valencia actually costs.

Rent

According to Numbeo, Valencianos fork out 31.5 percent of their monthly budget on paying rent.

Renting a one-bedroom apartment in the centre of Valencia costs an average of €966.08 a month. If you want something a little cheaper, travelling further from the city centre means you’ll be able to find one-bedroom apartments for an average of €716.30.

For a three bed in the city centre, you’d pay on average €1,600 a month, whereas a three-bedroom apartment on the city’s outskirts would set you back around €1,050 a month on average. 

The cheapest barrios to rent in Valencia are generally considered to be Favara, sandwiched between Patriax and Jesús in the south of the city, Torrefiel, in the Rascanya district, and San Antoni, where you can still find apartments to rent for less €6.00/m2.

Buying property

Buying a property in central Valencia in 2024 costs an average of around €2,389.20/m2, which means that if you buy a 80/m2 apartment, it would cost you around €191,136.

READ ALSO: REVEALED: The cheapest and most expensive areas to buy or rent in Valencia

Let’s take, for example, Valencia’s most expensive neighbourhood, l’Eixample, in the city centre, which on average costs €3.615/m2 to buy, according to Idealista. That’s quite a bit more than the city-wide average, but pales in comparison to the Salamanca district of Madrid (€7.374/m2) and the Sarrià – Sant Gervasi area of Barcelona (€5,666/m2).

Groceries

Like anywhere, prices depend on where you shop. Generally speaking, chain supermarkets like Mercadona, Masymas, and Consum are the cheapest, while larger supermarkets like Carrefour and El Corte Inglés are more expensive.

Looking at the average prices on Numbeo, in Valencia a kilogram of rice costs an average of €1.33. 12 eggs set you back €2.54, and a litre of milk €1.03. A kilogram of tomatoes (likely grown locally) costs an average of €2.11, and a kilo of potatoes just €1.59.

Of the more expensive products, a kilogram of chicken fillets costs around €7.50, and its €9.69 on average for a kilo of local cheese.

Grocery shopping is more expensive in Valencia than it was a couple of years ago. Photo: Jonny James/Unsplash.

Eating out

Valencia is the birthplace of one of Spain’s most iconic dishes, paella, but has a thriving (and very affordable) gastronomical scene that boasts a mix Spanish classics and international cuisine.

A meal in an inexpensive restaurant in Valencia costs around €12.75, whereas a three-course meal for two people sets you back an average of €45.

For those of you who enjoy fast food, or use the classic ‘Big Mac Index’ to gage a city’s cost of living, a combo meal in McDonalds costs €9 on average.

Having a caña (a beer in a small glass) costs on average €2.50 whereas Spain’s classic menú del día three-course lunch menu is €12.80, similar to the national average, but can be considerably higher in the city centre.

Transport

A one-way ticket on local buses or metro costs around €1.50, and a monthly pass €31.50 on average. 

However, like in many parts of Spain, the Valencian local government offers substantial discounts on public transport. The SUMA card, which integrates all the routes of Metrovalencia, Metrobus, EMT and Cercanías, has been cut considerably. The cost of a 10 trip SUMA top-up in Zone 1 starts from just €4 and passes for Zones 1 and 2 from €6, and increases the further out you go.

Those of you who have spent time in Valencia probably noticed that the city is absolutely covered in cycle lanes. Valencia is an incredibly bike friendly city, and the majority of people there (tourists and locals alike) use the public bike rental scheme Valenbisi.

It’s also incredibly cheap – a weekly subscription costs just €13.30, and the annual pass is a steal at €29.21. The first 30 minutes are always free (and it must be said, most journeys in the city centre don’t take half an hour) and after that you pay around €1 or €0.50 per half hour after that, depending on your tariff. 

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TOURISM

Valencia to crackdown on tourist flats in historic old town

After news that Barcelona intends to phase out 10,000 tourist rental flats by 2029, the city of Valencia has started the process of banning new 'pisos turísticos' in the historic old town.

Valencia to crackdown on tourist flats in historic old town

Valencia city council last week unanimously approved plans to crackdown on the use of residential properties as tourist housing in the historic centre, known as the Ciutat Vella or ‘old town’.

This includes the popular neighbourhoods of Velluters, Pilar, Mercat, Carmen, La Seu and part of La Xerea. These central areas have the greatest concentration of tourist rental flats in the city, and council estimates suggest that 10 percent of all residences there are now holiday homes.

This follows news last month that the council would stop issuing new licences to Airbnb-style lets for a year, with the possibility to extend the measure, as rents surge past €1,000 in the city.

According to figures reported by Spanish daily El País, more than 3,500 tourist flats have opened in Valencia in the last year alone. However, in Valencia and cities across Spain, there are also many thousands of unlicensed tourist properties. It is unclear how exactly these flats can be properly regulated.

READ ALSO: Barcelona to get rid of all tourist rental flats ‘by 2028’

In Valencia problem is such that all political parties in the city, including the right-wing Partido Popular and Vox, as well as left-wing parties Compromís and PSPV, voted in favour of starting the process, which will take more than a year.

It comes amid a wave of crackdown on tourist rentals across Spain. In Barcelona last week, city mayor Jaume Collboni shocked many by announcing that the local government intends to ‘eliminate’ 10,000 tourist apartments in the Catalan capital by 2029. These apartments, he said, would be converted into much needed affordable housing for locals.

Surging rent prices are a problem in cities across Spain. In Valencia, the council authorities seem to have taken inspiration from Barcelona and pledged to try and create “a model similar to that of Barcelona… so that, within four years, we can begin to eliminate all the tourist flats in our city and convert them into residential housing”.

The council also wants to ban tourist flats in residential buildings entirely in the old town. “We want it to be a residential neighbourhood,” said city councillor for urban planning, Juan Giner, “and for this reason we have proposed that it is not compatible and no new tourist flats will be opened in the buildings where locals live.”

The proposals, however, would not be a total ban and do include an important exception: that new tourist accommodation will still be allowed in the old town when it is an exclusive use building (that is to say, without any residential housing) and only in the San Francesc neighbourhood and in a small part of La Xerea.

Equally, tourist properties that already have the proper licences or authorisation will be able to continue to operate, but the council’s plans mean that no new licences will be issued in the near future and no new tourist flats will be opened in residential buildings in the old town.

READ ALSO: ‘It’s become unliveable’: Spain’s Málaga plans protests against mass tourism

Anti-tourism protests have gained momentum across the country in recent months, with locals taking to the streets in Barcelona, Madrid, the Canary and Balearic Islands, and further walkouts planned in Málaga at the end of June.

Locals complain that the increasing numbers of Airbnb-style rental accommodation decreases the supply of affordable, residential housing, drives up rental prices, gentrifies local neighbourhoods and prices out locals.

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