Access to housing is one of the biggest problems that currently concerns Spanish society, especially young people, who find it increasingly difficult to buy or rent a home. Prices in the real estate market do not stop growing to such an extent that a jackpot from the Christmas Lottery barely buys you a house in Madrid, while more than a century ago they allowed you to buy multiple homes in the capital.
Even a raffle as popular as the Christmas Lottery, with the large number of good prizes it distributes, has lost its ability to generate real wealth. Santiago Niño Becerra, an economist and finance specialist, wanted to refer to this, who defines it clearly: “In current euros, the jackpot gave the right to buy two houses in Madrid. Two houses in Madrid, yes. But things improved, because in 1920, with the lottery jackpot, 24 houses could be bought. 24, eh? Be careful, always in constant euros, in current value, eh?”, he explains. Now the real estate market has changed in such a way that even retirees are sometimes forced to share a flat.
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Prizes have been declining since the mid-20th century
Niño Becerra said that the lottery prizes began to lose strength starting in the 50s or 60s. “What happened, and I can imagine the reason, but I don’t know openly, from 1950-60, the lottery prizes, the jackpot prizes, basically began to decline. Why? Well, what I suppose is that, evidently, they wanted to reduce those prizes to have more profits by selling the numbers, of course.”
Today, one tenth of Gordo gives you about 400,000 euros before taxes, an amount that is no longer enough to buy a home in large capitals. As the economist says, “you don’t buy a house now. No, somewhere maybe. But the problem is not with the lottery, it is with Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, Seville, etc., anyway.” In other words, inflation and prices have caused the lottery to lose much of its purchasing power.
The symbolic and social value of the raffle
Even so, Niño Becerra highlights that the Christmas Lottery still has something special.
“The Christmas lottery has something that, due to the dates, is useful to share with friends. It has soul. At work, in companies, collective numbers are made. That is, it has something that unites.”
It’s not just a question of money, but of tradition. And in that, Spain is unique. “In the United States there are bets, but there is nothing like our Christmas lottery, much less sharing a number among families. It is something more individual.” Therefore, he explains, if everything is sold, it makes no sense to touch the prizes: “If everything is sold, why are you going to increase the prizes?”
Fishing, food and sustainability
The economist expanded his analysis to the food industry, especially the fishing industry, where demand continues to grow. “The demand for fish has skyrocketed in the last century or in the last 50 years. Consequently, the only way to cover that demand was, 50 years ago or less, to increase exploitation and more modernly by setting up fish farms. If what you want is to reduce fishing for wild fish, the only way is to reduce production.”
Niño Becerra also warned that this situation has a direct effect on families who live off the sea. “The big problem arising from this situation is that there are going to be a lot of families that are going to be left with nothing. Because you’ll tell me, a fisherman who is 50 years old and has been fishing for 30 years, what is this person going to recycle?” Furthermore, he made it clear that thinking about totally local production is a utopia: “Food self-sufficiency is practically impossible. Climate change and the demand for out-of-season food, such as cherries from Chile in January, show that local production cannot cover all needs.”
Luxury and prices for all tastes
When it comes to luxury products, Niño Becerra gave as an example a ham from 2006, matured for 19 years, which has been sold for 80,000 euros. “This has been highly criticized from an ethical point of view, but it doesn’t seem bad to me. If someone wants to pay for their enjoyment or to close a business, that is their right.”
According to him, this type of exclusive products can even benefit the general market: “I think so, it helps. Everyone can understand that a ham that you pay a thousand euros for will not be the same as one that you pay 80,000 for.”
Housing: prices through the roof
The Spanish real estate market continues to rise. According to the latest Tinsa report, prices increased by 0.4% in August compared to July and have already accumulated an increase of 11.9% in the last year. That is, homes cost almost 9% more than inflation.
Large cities, such as Madrid or Barcelona, have stabilized slightly, but coastal areas, islands and urban surroundings are pushing upwards. Furthermore, data from the College of Registrars confirm that operations do not stop: in July more than 65,000 homes were sold, 14.3% more than the previous year. In total, more than 123,000 properties changed hands, with Aragón, Ceuta and Andalusia leading the largest increases.