In last week's poll we asked:
Do you believe Spain still offers a low cost of living?
342 responses were received and the verdict is...
An overwhelming majority of people now believe that Spain can no longer be classed as a cheap place to live. But what did people actually say about it?
Read the following comments left by our members for this poll:
However I think you need to live a Spanish lifestyle: buying in local markets plus eating and drinking in Spanish bars and restaurants. On the few occasions that we venture into a British bar, we usually find that they are charging more for food and drinks! We have also gone into British supermarkets and again you are paying far more than in Día, Consum or Mercadona.
As an example of eating out: locally we can have a ménu del día for between 7.50€ and 10€. This includes a shared salad, 3 courses, bread, wine and coffee. On a visit to London last week, I had lunch with a friend and the special offer menu was £9.99 for 2 courses, plus £3.50 for a large glass of wine with your meal. More expensive and less filling, so I needed to go out for dinner later on that day!
Spain does not offer a low cost of living now. Absolutely not. If you spend a month or two in the UK, you will find that your grocery shopping is reduced by at least a third and the high quality of food on offer, including fruit and vegetables (supermarket fruit and veg in Spanish supermarkets must be among the worse in Europe) is far superior to that in Spain. Also eating out is cheaper. There are so many two for one offers available and early bird menus, that it is definitely cheaper to eat out in England now. Alcohol is more expensive but if you drink in the cheaper pubs such as Wetherspoons then that, too works out cheaper. Jane
Compared to the cost of living in Ireland, Spain is still very good value.
Rip off Britain? Costs nowhere near as much as rip off Spain. pretty much all goods are way more expensive in Spain and that includes the normal food shopping!
I buy Rioja and Cava (and a lot more besides) cheaper at the Co-op in Birmingham than the Mercadona in Fuengirola.
If you include the Canary Islands in this poll then yes we do. I am not saying that the bars and restaurants are as cheap as they were but living here is definately cheaper than the UK. Including water which we have VERY little resources from the sky!!
They come up daily, with new ways to rip off pensioner ex pats.
I would say that grocery prices are pretty much on a par with the UK, but without the special offers "3 for 2" or "bogof" that are to be had in the UK.
Fuel prices at the pump are still a little cheaper but continue to creep upwards.
Services are not cheap - electricity, water and phone are all big monthly outgoings.
Capital goods are expensive here!!
Roll on to the end of the credit crunch - the sooner the better.
The Street markets are still the best value in Eastern Almeria...
eg
Vera
Cuevas
Villaricos
etc
I have been visiting southern Spain for the last 10 years now and just recently have noticed how nearly everything is cheaper in the UK -including cooked chickens !!. I am a golfer, and it was always the case that golf in Spain was cheaper and better than in the UK - not anymore. While there are some good deals around, paying 130 euro's for a round plus another 50 euro's for a buggy is a joke. I fully understand the weakness of sterling has not helped, but it is fast becoming a rich mans sport. I have watched our society dwindle from around 30 players each year to 13 this year !! The only possible saving grace for Spain is that Portugal is even more expensive !! Martin Bayes
The main difference in people's opinions is due to those who are prepared, and want to live 'Spanish' and those nglish' shops and purchase food that they are familiar with. Purchases at farmers markets and at local carnicerias offer not only better value but normally better quality.
I don't think that things have gone up that much, but the dreadful exchange rate is making things seem that way. You can't blame Spain for that.
Really, why ask the question. Surely you can think of better questions to ask than this? It is so obvious. I predict that circle graph will be 15% to 85% No.
It is as expensive for shopping as the U.K. I have even found it more expensive than the supermarkets. The spaniards need to start lowering their prices to make it more attractive to the brits again.
When we came to Spain about 10 years ago, as an example petrol and diesel was equivalent to about 60pence per litre.
Currently it is about the same price as in Britain.
I actually think it`s more expensive in spain than the UK, BUT THE WEATHER IS MUCH BETTER!
Car Hire, Restaurants and food in general are much higher. I can never understand why 1 litre of freshly squeezed orange juice is always more expensive in Spain than the UK yet the raw ingredients are on the doorstep in Spain and vegetables too that are grown in Spain are cheaper in the UK !!!!!!
Food has become a lot dearer these days
With the exchange rate and the price of food and goods in the shops we found it very expensive in March.
Back in Scotland the cost of living is much less apart from the fuel.
Food/groceries/cleaning materials are often MUCH cheaper in the UK.
There is no REAL competition between supermarkets here.
Telephone /internet is a rip-off; electricity might be slightly cheaper here.
Good things - no television tax, rates low, car tax low.
Bad things - Property taxes for buying & selling are high. Estate agents fees are obscenely, excessively, grotesquely and unwarrantably over the top.
high charges for furniture/white goods/insurance/telecom
Not for visitors who have to exchange GBP for Euros.
We are pensioners who moved to Spain two years ago now. The pound was around E 1.48 or thereabouts. We rented an apartment ,subsequenty moving to a diferent area. Need I say that the pound also moved, but in a downward spiral. Trying to keep our head above water is a nightmare. We are teetotal, don't go out to a restaurant but once a month, we watch TV and play board games for amusement. I used to buy a newspaper, but I simply cannot afford the scandalous cost of Euro 2.00 plus. Supermarkets must think wer'e made of money and a fixed pension goes nowhere. Other nationalities must be laughing at us - they must think we get the same pay as them. We would go back home if we could afford to - and that's a fact. We are absolutely disilusioned with it all.
the only comment i would like to make that i think the euro was a great excuse to rob everyone . i can go to the u.s.a. & the far east much cheaper than i can spain , the only things that spain has got going for it is the people , culture & short flights . yours frank peat
But then where else would you reccomend !!!!!
As with every country, some things are less expensive than UK and some more expensive - Europe wide we are now seeing price normalisation as big businesses move in and fix their prices at the most the market will stand.
Of course it's cheaper here in Spain. All you have to do is remember the stark realities of the UK.......like the appalling council tax levied; the rip-off water rates; the disgusting rate of duty/tax on diesel and petrol; the annual vehicle excise licence; the TV licence; the cost of a 'pint'; the exorbitant cost of, and the cartel surrounding, gas / electricity / oil, just to try and keep warm in the winter. I just could not afford to go back, let alone return to the cold and grey and drab and drizzle that's so prevalent for many months of the year.
yes you just have to look in right places the bars and pubs around boanza sq.in belemadena and los bolohis in fuengirola are still cheap
Many estate agents would sell their granny too!!!
It is not as cheap as it was 10 years ago,
but I still believe you can afford a good way
of life that does not cost too much. Jan
Spanish supermarkets are far more expensive than in the UK. Also they have few offers on sale. Taxes in Spain for the non resident are still way to high and in many cases unfair!
Despite the frustration of rising prices its still relatively cheap.
As visiting property owners in Mijas Costa it seems that despite the recession and lack of tourists, prices are still rising and with the poor exchange rate (£/euro) it is certainly no longer cheap.
Maybe some years ago but now it is pretty expensive. Jana
Maybe away from the coast the costs are less, but beer at 2.50-3.50 is hardly cheep in fact its proberly dearer than England
I know that rates are lower but the cost of food is very comparable to UK - with hardly any difference between shops. We need a company like Tesco to come here and wake them up. Cloths are also pricey with very little competition. Boradband costs are also much higher here.
compared to the Netherlands
With IVA (VAT) going up, salaries static, why I wonder are the supermarkets not trying to compete more than they do by reducing prices in line with majority of the UK supermarkets?
Or is there a hidden agenda which they have all previously agreed upon ie. not to compete and get into a price war???
It will also be interesting to see what effect the proposed total smoking ban will have on the bar and restaurant trade. As we know they are already suffering be they Spanish owned or other!
In Ireland, the cost of living is falling rapidly in response to the recession. In Spain there seems to be no response at all to changed economics. Spain is now more expensive for day-to-day living than Ireland, UK, France and Germany in my experience. You never get the sense that you have a bargain, and you often get the sense that you have been ripped off. There seems to be an attitude among Spanish people that northern Europeans are made of money and have more money than sense. Poor value and expensive, I think.
In a country that grows alot it is expensive to buy fruit and veg. Seems to be far cheaper and better choice in uk.
Things aren't what they were but comparatively living in Spain particularly a little further inland is still relatively cheap.
At current exchange rates it costs about the same to live in Spain as it does in the UK
I voted " no" but certain things are cheaper than in my home country. Food and things are about the same, utilities are much more expensive, property taxes however are much lower. The later is a good incentive to buy property in Spain.
buy wisely!!!
electricity has become expensive, & lots of foodstuffs are more expensive than britain
its a sorry state of affairs, but the cds is now more expensive than going out in any large city in the UK.
I dont think the value of the £ against the euro has helped as that has been a 40% increase in costs, this in turn has kept a lot of tourists away. the bar, restaurant and shop owners therefore have put up their prices to compensate for the fewer numbers of customers...its one nasty circle that nobody can get out of.
mainly due to a strong euro vs pound
We moved over to Spain over two years ago at the start of the "credit crunch" .We believe that because we are outdoors more we need less money to entertain ourselves than Scotland ,where often it was a trip to B&Q on a rainy Saturday to upgrade the house ,or shopping when we did not need anything now we take a walk on the beach,visit friends or a game of golf. There are many great savings in Uk supermarkets and there are many great savings on many food comodities in Spain. Utilities in the summer months are lower ( unless you keep aircon on) and few have central heating here for the winter months so can save quite a bit. All in all we can live on less money here in Spain than we did in UK but I also think its because we have changed our attitude to what is important in our lives
On the coast, things are far more expensive than the UK now. I now go back to the UK to buy most of my clothes, household goods etc! You can still find excellent value a few miles inland though.
I don't get a cost of living rise from my Spanish employers so I've been on the same wage for the past 4 years but..........the price of bread, milk, coffee, tea and other essential weekly shopping items have increased in price ... and what about petrol too (as I need a car for work).
I would be fascinated to know how the locals live!!
Their response to falling trade is to increase prices. I don't think anyone has a basic grasp of economics or how competition works.
Having recently been to the UK it is much cheaper to shop in supermarkets and quality wine is comparable also eating out can be as cheap as here.
half and half, yes the prices have gone up but chicken fish eggs veg are still very reasonable, if you are shopping for "english" products then the prices are high, but if you shop around the spanish shops then you can eat at a reasonable price .. restaurants on the fronts are expensive go inland and they are much lower.
We have just been back to the Netherlands and we were shocked about the prices there. We buy in the big supermarkets here and we half or less for a piece of fresh fish than in the same sized supermarkets in the Netherlands.
Dining out is still possible for 8 to 12 Euros per person if you know your way around which is impossible in Amsterdam. The mortgage is lower at the moment because Spanish mortgages follow the Euribor.
So a definite Yes.
(I almost forgot about the cheap parking here and the laughable 3 Euros fine you have to pay if you were in a zone with paid parking and came back too late. We used to pay around 80 Euros fine if we were more than half an hour late and paid parking was the only option in the Dutch cities.)
The UK is getting more and more expensive. With petrol, booze,and cigarette prices always increasing. The three main things for a working class person, but yet the wages are staying more or less the same, if you take into account, that the tax codes are now staying the same. In Spain they look after the working classes and their own first. We should take a leaf out of their book. Have you tried getting a job in Spain (Costa Del Sol)anyway. They will give a job to their nieces, nephews, cousins etc first. Its a closed shop. Unlike us. Having said that, you can still fill your shopping basket up for half the price than it is here and with lots of goodies, Cava, Wine Beer!!! Salud....
Spain is Spain, travel for 15 minutes Inland and you will see a totally different enviroment.
Beautiful thriving Towns and villages,with regular fiestas, etc.
A TOTALLYDIFFERENT ENVIROMENT TO THE UK
We have house in small spanish village in the south ,but have found since the euro has came in the cost of living in spain is steady getting more and more expensive and you were saying it was quite you have seen nothing yet going by the opinion of most people who holidayed in spain over the last 3 or 4 years they all think spain has become so expensiveand will be given it the elbow for the likes of turkey ,like its even cheaper to go for a drink in the uk.In my opinion spain is on a slippery slope down and i would not be opening a bar or restaurant in the near future .
Cheaper on a lot of things than England, but electricals, clothing and furniture are certainly more expensive. I would challenge anyone to get a Chinese meal in England for the quality and price you get it in Spain. eating out and drinking are cheaper, but overall the gap is narrowing.
20% to 30% cheaper than Ireland/U.K. but gap narrowing ,inevetiable since became a member of E.U.
OK! Spain is not as 'cheap as it used to be' as people keep saying, but then again it is still much cheaper than many of its European partners in the Eurozone, and the overall cost of living is still cheaper than the UK.
I think the cost of food can be more here in Spain because there is not the competition between supermarkets like in UK. Buying British goods from British shops can be expensive. The cost of living is certainly higher than it was when we moved here 8 years ago. Although "rates" are cheaper as is petrol and diesel the exchange rate has made a difference to our standard of living. Housing can be a better buy but not if new houses are purchased on a housing estate.
no, more expensive than home
It may not be as cheap or as affordable as it used to be but its a vast improvement on prices in ireland where i have just moved from
It is not as good as it was but none the less if you go to Spanish places for eating out and coffees etc it is still good value. The foreign owned places seem to be the more expensive including English and German. Furniture is very expensive in comparison to UK. Or perhaps it's just on the coast! (our place is in Mojocar). If you live in the UK you do not expect to eat out very often or drink every day at your local pub and at home. But when living in Spain this is how you expect to live. All you need to do is scale back a little and remember that it is probably raining in the UK!
i very much depends on the individual circumstances,
do you know what??? the answers you get will depend on how long the respondent have lived here,, if you still look for 'tetley' or horlicks' then its not as cheap as it was,, BUT!! if you have integrated even a bit, then you will have found excellent 'Spanish' alternatives , and the answer will be a resounding 'YES' far too many Brits hanker for their lost brand names, I live in Spain ,and buy Spanish, is it cheaper ,,, You bet your bippy,
Brit. bars and shops rip people off. There is also no middle of the road purchasing power in relation to clothing both childrens and adults and also furniture. its either cheaper rubbish which is not really cheap or very very expensive top end of the market which goods are still not fabulous. i have had a house in spain since 2001 and the prices have shot up in relation to cost of living even menu of the day which was once 5 euros is now between 8 and 15.
I find Spain very expensive now and prefer to bring all my goodies back from the UK, it is cheaper to drive my car to the UK & fill up with shopping for a couple of weeks.
Still much cheaper than uk when council tax , water rates , insurance , TV Licence are taken into consideration.
It's a third world country (infrastructure,attitudes, services) with close to first world prices. It's not as expensive as London or Paris yet, but give it time. Since the 80's it has become a very, very expensive place to live
I suppose the difficulty is that the Brits still tend to compare prices back to the Pound Sterling. Technically in Euro terrms prices have not increased as dramatically as some people are making out. It is the weakness of the Pound that has been the problem. Gone are the days when we got 1.5 Euros to the Pound. These days are gone forever and whilst a change in UK Government would be desirable, it will not improve the Exchange Rate significantly.
Some things have gone up - especially if you use the 'british' supermarkets, but many things are still cheaper. Wine, beer, and fresh products are relatively cheap, as is eating out if you choose the right place. The real killer is the exchange rate. And don't forget the weather - although it can be cold on winter nights, it is nowhere near as cold as the UK. Try paying for heating oil from November through to April.
As a new early retiree to spain (8 months) I can honestly say yes. Shopping for food at both supermarkets and market is cheaper about 15% although wine is 50% less. Council tax equivalent is 75% less and car tax 50% less.Eating out 50% + less expensive. Some things are more expensive but overall it's still relatively cheap. I think lots of expats who have been here for a few years or more maybe don't realise how much everything has increased in the UK.
having just spent a week in spain both my husband and I thought that prices have just shot up since our last visit there a year ago. It appears cheap at first viewing but then if you want a decent meal one has to pay a price that is certainly not cheap.
compared to london spain is cheaper by at least 6% ie petrol power and food if you eat local food buy english and you will suffer in your pocket
We live in the UK, and had dreams of purchasing a property in Spain around 5 years ago, but due to the continual price rises had to abandon our plans - we simply could not save at the rate property prices were rising.
Is it still cheaper to live in Spain, we have come back from a week in Fuengirola and found prices are going through the roof and eating out is no longer a given, certainly at some of the more expensive restaurants.
Last October we also visited family near Limerick, Eire and found a similar situation where the cost of living is almost out of control and unemployment looming everywhere.
I think the continual increase in the cost of living will not only affect residents in both countries, it will alsol damage tourism very quickly, which in the case of Spain is still the biggest earner.
We live on a pension and visit Spain 2/3 times a year. Over the recent 18 months we believe the cost of supermarket produce has risen to match and even pass those in the UK. Restuarants again seem as expensive as the UK and no longer a cheap option Vs dining at home or in the holiday apartment.
It is still relatively cheap to buy your property, but the living costs have risen considerably, I find food costs now seem to be cheaper in UK. I still prefer being poor in Spain than UK
Of course, it depends on where (and what you do, of course). Madrid is v expensive (on a par with my home, Paris). But elsewhere you can still find good, inexpensive restaurants, etc and my food bill is generally less in Spain than home. Of course, people based in Britain have the exchange rate to contend with...now that's a diff story!
Everything has gone up - food in supermarkets, restaurant prices, bar prices, utility bills. Definately not as cheap as used to be...
no , I recently had to call a service engineer to look at my fridge. It took 15 minutes, no parts required . 100 euros!!!He did smile when he asked for it in cash but didn't LOL.
My Son and daughter in law are here at the moment and cant believe the prices. Baby nappies are more than double in price than they are in the UK.
No nothing is helping the consumer over this crisis in Spain!!
Airline charges can make a big difference. You should support the low-cost firms.
Raising prices will definately have an adverse effect.
Hotels should offer really good deals outside July and August.
Overall, Spain is still relatively cheap to live. A lot of people who comment that UK is cheaper, either have been away from the UK for too and remember it before they left. Others don´t seem to take ALL costs into account. UK is in for a rough time after the election, I know where I would rather be. Once the sun comes out in Spain for a few weeks people will forget all this countrys problems and will be enjoying the beach.
Join the European Market and your living costs will increase.
It is cheaper to eat out in the UK and wine / beer is almost the same. If you are prepared eat in your property in the Almeria area on Mediterranean type food then you may save a little but not much. Other costs like buying property is very expensive.
The fact that the UK is not tied to the Euro certainly helps.
When I first moved to Spain in 1998 it was still possible to buy a house for 20,000 pounds sterling! Food and eating out was very reasonable, but now the cost of everything has soared through the roof probably due to the euro.
United Kingdom now has much more choice and is cheaper for nearly everything I have found on a visit back.
I dont find it cheap at all espeially as i have a mortgage.now have my villa up for sale as can not aford it any more
No it is well in common territory with England as regards prices Mike Gill
My husband and I have an apartment in Almoradi. When we were out in February we had a five course lunch with a bottle of wine and 3 glasses of beer for 22 euros. In the evening the same meal is 25 euros for 2 people. Could you get this anywhere in the UK? By the way the food was great.
Regardsless of the weak pound...Nothing on the Costa del Sol is cheap anymore. To eat out and drink in the local bars is more expensive than London. In England many restuarants and pubs have special offers to attract customers in these tough times. On the Costa del Sol it seems many of the bars and restuarants have INCREASED their prices! whats the logic?
People's view on this is often conditioned by the way they choose to live in Spain, i.e. in expatriate colonies and opting for foodstuffs with British brands and consequently higher prices. Spain still offers a quality lifestyle at a lesser tariff for those who are willing to be more adventurous and discriminating.
As a Canadian dollar traveller the Euro prices in Spain make it too pricey for what you get. Our focus is switching to South and Central America for a Spanish heritage environment.
leave the coast and move inland. apart from being much cheaper, the life is much more spanish, very friendly and "never a dull moment"
from Carole in a little village in the province of Granada
I think that food in the supermarkets have gone up, even the fruit and vegtables from the markets seen to be increasing in price, we all know that the Electric has increased in price and our heating bill for the winter was really high.
I know we shouldn't compare prices with the UK but i'm sure we all do especially the food.
Exchange Rate is predicted to rise to 1.3 Euro's to the £ over next 2 yrs. (Views of a major UK bank, not just wishfull thinking). If/when it happens it will again be cheaper for people with income in £'s.
It depends on what sorts of things you buy. Fresh produce - fruit, veg, salad, fish etc and beer and wine are all cheaper than the uk.
Processed food, which is bad for you, are dearer, so it just depends on your lifestyle - we find it much cheaper.
Things like low council tax,no TV licence, cheaper alchohol allow Spain to appear cheaper to live than say the uk, but if you look at other costs,electricity fuel,telephone etc,then I think Spain can no longer be said to be cheap. In our area we are facing urbanisation charges of 44000 (forty four thousand euros,per houshold.
Spain has become uncompetitive. The only thing cheap here is housing. Everything else I think is cheaper in northern europe. And the quality of what we have to pay for is really quite poor here, too. Once, Spain was the destination of first choice for Brits and others and was excellent value for money. Those days are over. And with the strictures placed on the economy due to the disastrous adoption of the Euro, I can't see any way out for Spain.
All Europe will have the same living costs now and in the future, thats what the EU is all about, so it will all boil down to a life style choice,
Compared to the Peseta, before joining the EU, when the idea of Spain was born; Spain today faces challenges in maintaining growth and standards that other visitors are accustomed to. Spain is still moderate in general, but in the most populated cities it is comparitively expensive. The ratio of quality to cost is "Buyer be ware". Outside this zone however, you can make a go of it if you are resourceful. Like anything, "you get what you pay for". This although is a standard that is superior to the many that come to Spain and also for many the intangible qualities of Spain overide costs. But the question affecting families who've come for a better life including the Spanish, the answer for the moment is yes it is. The ratios economically just are not here to support the standards that everyone is reaching for.
Like shopping in all countries make use of the local shops and pick & choose at the Supermarkets.
Just checkout the price of petrol today...this will be passed down the line by distribution companys into the products we buy. I can't wait to retire to my Casa!
to all in britain do not buy any property in spain? you will be losing as I did. do not invest. it also corrobted country. I lerned a lesson? is a death trap?????
But only if you budget sensibly
As a pensioner I still have a better quality of life here, I would not have the same in the UK, It all depends on your lifestyle.
With the exchange rate as it is it is more expensive than U.K.
Everybody seems to blame the low exchange rate, but Spains prices have only gone up pro rata to the UK's.
If you compare what you got for a pound sterling three years ago, of course things seem dear,
You have to look at what a Euro buys not how much it cost to buy a Euro
And it's obvious!
Everything seems to rise incrementally despite inflation remaining low, especially social security, taxes and power. Where does it all go?
I think if you live inland away from the tourist areas and the costal resorts that cater for Brit pack, and reside in the real spain it is much cheaper than the UK