Spain is crying out for a solution to its serious housing crisis. While the central and regional governments try to accelerate policies to achieve more affordable rent, business entrepreneurs are coming up with solutions that break with traditional logic. Oriol Valls and Anna Bedmar, two 33-year-olds from Catalonia, created a startup in 2023 that allows people to buy individual rooms.
“We saw that most young people couldn’t save any money and were wasting all their income on rent, and at the end of the month, they didn’t own anything because they hadn’t been able to save. The same thing happened to us, since we both spent a large part of our income renting a room or a property,” explain the co-founders. With their method, they say, young people can start saving, benefit from the appreciation in property value, and, in just a few years, have the capital required to make the leap to buy their first full-fledged home.
This is the idea behind Habitacion.com, which ended 2024 with more than 80 sales totaling €3.4 million ($4 million) and revenue of €1.4 million ($1.65 million). They are not making a profit yet, but expect to do so in 2026. The entrepreneurs say they have more than 21,000 people on a waiting list to purchase a room. “We expect to reach 400 rooms sold this year,” says Oriol Valls, an engineer and the CEO of the company. Habitacion.com has offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and Granada, and they are planning to expand into southern Europe. To achieve this, the company, which raised €400,000 (over $470,000) in 2024, has just taken an important step in its path to growth with a €1.3 million ($1.53 million) round of financing led by Demium Capital.
The model works the same as any other joint ownership. Habitacion.com finds apartments for sale, completely renovates them, and markets them by room. It connects owners interested in selling with buyers interested in acquiring a room, and handles the entire sales process.
Ownership of the property is divided proportionally according to the square footage of the room plus an equal percentage of the common areas. “When you buy a room, you are acquiring an undivided share of the property [proindiviso], or, in other words, a percentage. It’s the same legal concept as when a married couple buys an apartment.” The deed is signed before a notary public and recorded in the Property Registry.
The price of a room depends on the location, surface area, whether it has a bathroom or balcony, and so on. They typically cost anywhere between €60,000 ($70,600) and €80,000 ($94,000). “For example, if a user pays a monthly rent of €450 ($529) for a room, that’s €5,400 ($6,350) a year. As a co-owner, with that same monthly payment, they’ll be generating a property asset. Within five years, they could earn more than €20,000 ($23,500) in returns if they want to sell the room,” says Bedmar, who studied business administration. The room can be bought upfront, but the most common option is for buyers to take out a loan.
When it comes time to sell the room, the co-owners have the right of first refusal, and the startup offers a buyback service if necessary.
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