“I spent two months looking for a flat, it was very difficult.” This is the confession of Eva Herrera, 19 years old, about the search she started some time ago to find a room in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife. The process, which she describes as “hard,” became complicated when she saw the money required for the rent.
On portals like Idealista, the price of most rooms available in La Laguna, a city that concentrates a large percentage of students, is above €350. The situation also extends to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where few rooms near the university area can be found for less than €300.
Facade of a rental property. / La Provincia
A “hard” search
Eva Herrera ensures that, in her case, finding a place to stay was essential. She is from Gran Canaria and will be studying in Tenerife. “I need, yes or yes, somewhere to stay,” she emphasizes. After two months of checking “every day” on the portals and real estate pages, she managed to rent a flat that she will share with two other students. “I am aware that I was very lucky because, in the end, I was able to find something,” she states.
In Canarias, the rental price in June stood at €13.87 per square meter. This data positions the Archipelago as the fifth region in Spain with the highest rents. This reality also affects the prices of student flats. Securing one has become a real challenge for students who will study outside their place of residence.
Furthermore, according to the report Data and Figures of the Spanish University System for the academic year 2022-2023, the percentage of Canarian students choosing to study outside the Islands amounts to 8.1%.
“The flats disappeared within hours”
The young woman asserts that, during her search, she had to change many of the rental requirements she initially had. “I started by looking for something that did not exceed €400,” she explains. However, after realizing it was “truly impossible,” she decided to expand the search to less than €500.
Another of the challenges faced during the process, the student recounts, was the constant disappearance of flats on the platform. “When I found one that I liked and managed to speak to the landlord, within an hour it became unavailable because someone else had seen it and paid for it,” she says.
Her own landlord confirmed this to her: “He told me that he rented out three rooms the same day he posted the announcement.” Getting a room in Canarias, according to her experience, has become a real marathon.
Bad photos, no location, no response
“Very poorly done photos, people don’t answer your messages and sometimes, not even the location appears.” Three aspects that also characterized the process of the student. A feeling of insecurity accompanied her on many occasions because “the videos and images, which were even blurred, suggested that what was being offered was a hovel.”
File – Keys, resources, mortgages. / Europa Press – Archive
Adding to the above is that out of all the ads she checked, she found those who were asking for up to €430 for a tiny room. At that price, she explains, “you could find something decent if you were very lucky.”
According to Eva Herrera, her classmates have had similar experiences: “I have friends who are still searching, there are people who still haven’t found anything.” The situation that students face to find a place to settle, she points out, is “truly complicated.”
