Housing construction in Malaga and main towns of province experiences slight growth in first half of 2025

At a time when construction industry leaders and public administrations are acknowledging the need for more homes to be built to meet the huge demand for apartments in the Costa del Sol province, which would help to reduce rising prices, statistics from Malaga's official association of architects show a slight increase in residential construction in the first half of 2025. On Thursday, the figures for the second quarter of this year were released, a total of 2,482 homes for the province, a very similar number to the 2,337 recorded in the first quarter.

In total, 4,819 homes gained approval in these first six months of the year, an increase of 12% compared to the 4,301 in the first half of 2024. In the case of Malaga city, a total of 926 homes have been planned thus far this year, which is less than the 1,335 that the association of architects (Colegio de Arquitectos) approved for the city for the same period last year.

However, this number included 530 VPOs (subsidised, public housing units) planned years ago for land to the west of the Teatinos university campus, which are being built by the developer Lagoom Living on plots of land ceded by Malaga city council. If we disregard these 530 VPOs, we are left with 805 homes approved for the provincial capital from January to June 2024, making this half-year's 926 homes 15% more than last year's real total.

At the provincial level, in the second quarter of this year, the municipality of Mijas led the way in terms of housing construction with a total of 450, followed by Estepona with 355 and Fuengirola with 188. The Costa del Sol continues to account for the highest levels of residential construction, compared to inland towns where this activity is practically negligible. For example, in Antequera only nine homes have been approved in the last three months and only 13 for Ronda.

In the municipality of Marbella 114 homes were approved in the second quarter of 2025, 84 of which are VPOs (Viviendas de Protección Oficial). This type of social, subsidised housing reappears in the statistics on new projects approved by the architects' association after practically disappearing for a year. This could be an effect of the measures implemented in recent months by the regional government and some town and city councils to encourage the construction of social housing. In addition to these 84 in Marbella, there are another 31 VPO apartments in Rincón de la Victoria and 28 in the municipality of Algarrobo. For Vélez-Málaga, 102 approvals were recorded, but none are VPOs.

The dean of Malaga's association of architects, Susana Gómez de Lara, has pointed out that the concentration of the population in the province's large municipalities is part of the imbalance between housing supply and demand, "also causing mobility problems that negatively impact people's quality of life." She continued: "Urban planning, which is obsolete throughout the province, does not respond to the changes needed to provide solutions to current needs. Without planning, there is no land, and without land, there is no housing," stressing that "changes must be made to reverse the current trend and improvements must be implemented based on analyses and diagnoses that reflect the real causes and guarantee equal opportunities for all."

Gómez de Lara indicated that it is the responsibility of the governing bodies to manage procedures in matters of housing and land use planning. "It is necessary to plan ahead in the medium and long term to build the housing we need, as well as to promote the regeneration of real neighbourhood districts, improving people's quality of life."