2023 figures from the Tax Agency indicate that the average income in Palma's Nou Llevant district increased 50% over the ten years from 2013; it went up from €23,283 to €35,102.
Jesús M. González Pérez, professor of geography at the University of the Balearic Islands, points out that new property sales in the district were just beginning in 2023, the most recent year for which the Tax Agency has published figures. Two years on and the average income is bound to have gone up.
The old area of the district has 1970s housing and is home to working-class people with lower incomes than those living in the new developments built in recent years. The president of the API association of estate agents, José Miguel Artieda, says new homes range in price from €500,000 to over €1.2 million for the penthouses. Buyers are predominantly foreigners, many of them Swedish.
This has led to a significant increase in the value of homes in the old area. These have gone from selling for around €140,000 to €220,000-€300,000. González doesn't believe that this boom will drive out long-term residents, but he nevertheless fears that the social fragmentation of the district will only increase. The rise in average income is indicative of this fragmentation. It is the result of the arrival of higher earners.
González explains that income is an indicator of inequality but that there are other very important ones, such as access to housing. He argues that the authorities must implement public policies in order to reduce inequalities. But the trend in Nou Llevant is seemingly towards a widening of the gap. Earmarked for the Palma Culture & Innovation Bay project, land is at a premium and there are developments for homes at luxury prices.