As of: February 29, 2024, 7:12 p.m
By: Nico Reiter, Cefina Gomez
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German pensioners are looking for paradise on Mallorca, but a harsh reality often awaits them.
Housing shortages and loneliness characterize their retirement.
Palma – Mallorca attracts with palm trees, beaches and wonderful weather.
Quite a few pensioners have decided to spend their retirement on Mallorca.
But not all dreams of a carefree retirement on the Mediterranean come true.
The Herztat Foundation, based in the rectory of the German-speaking Protestant community on Playa de Palma, offers support for older people in need.
The Spanish island is not only very popular with Germans.
Recently, foreign real estate companies have been purchasing houses on a massive scale to create more space for vacation rentals, much to the chagrin of residents.
When your dream of emigrating turns into a nightmare: suddenly the problems pile up
The Herztat project is an initiative of the entrepreneur Roland Werner and the Protestant community of Mallorca.
It was originally created to enable lonely seniors to socialize.
However, according to a report in the
Mallorca Zeitung,
the emigrants are now faced with completely different challenges.
“The housing shortage is a particularly urgent problem.
We had three cases of this before Christmas alone,” reports Pastor Martje Mechels.
Rents rise rapidly when owners die and a family member increases the rent.
Emigrating to Mallorca: Hopes of retirement on the Mediterranean are often not fulfilled.
(Symbolic image) © mcacciapuoti/Imago
Therefore, more and more simple requests turn out to be real emergencies, as many emigrants live on a small pension and have no financial reserves.
The search for an apartment is often complicated by pets and age-related restrictions.
At the beginning of the year, Mallorca enforced stricter pandemic rules again to contain the strong wave of respiratory diseases.
Despite strong resistance from the Balearic Islands, the mask requirement was reintroduced.
Emigrating to Mallorca: What standard of living can people expect?
Doris Kirch, who has been advising Germans on emigrating to the popular holiday island for 20 years, gives
tips on what people should pay attention to before realizing their plans in an interview with the
Stern newspaper.
She emphasizes the importance of mastering the Spanish language and having sufficient reserves.
The expert also recommends extrapolating monthly expenses over one and a half to two years.
“Otherwise the risk is too high that you will go bankrupt and only have money for the return ticket,” warns Kirch.
She also advises not to start your own business too naively.
“In the first few years on Mallorca, self-employed people often have to work harder in order to earn less than in their jobs in Germany,” explains Kirch.
More and more people are moving abroad.
Other countries, such as Greece, also attract retirees.
(cg)
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