Is there a housing crisis in Malaga? Mortgage growth stalls at 1%, some 30% below national average

Malaga's real estate market is showing some signs of stagnation. Or, perhaps more specifically, the demand for homeownership is having to resort more to bank financing. That, at least, is evident from the information published this Wednesday by the INE (Spain's national statistics institute) on mortgage underwriting. In June, a total of 1,879 home mortgages were signed in Malaga province, just 1.13% more than in the same month in 2024 (1,858). This trend contrasts with the numbers recorded nationwide, where 41,834 homeowner loans were signed for in June, a 31.7% year-on-year increase compared to the 31,773 in the same month last year.

Not only is the growth in mortgage signings in Malaga 30 percentage points below that recorded for all Spain, but only five provinces have performed worse than Malaga. In Cordoba and Navarre, mortgage signings in June fell by around 0.7% year-on-year, while the decline in Granada is 12.8%, 20% in Soria and 47% in Lugo.

At the other end of the scale are Zaragoza, Ourense, Ávila, Teruel and Huesca, where the number of loans taken out to purchase a home has almost doubled.

In any case, Malaga was the province with the sixth highest number of mortgages issued in June, with Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Alicante all well ahead and the Costa del Sol province found itself lagging well behind these five.

One factor that could be hindering mortgage signings in Malaga province is their high and ever-increasing value. As reported by the INE, in the last month the average homeowner loan taken out was worth around 204,000 euros, compared to 181,370 euros for the same period last year, representing a 12% increase. As a result, mortgages in Malaga were the third largest in the entire country for June, behind the Balearic Islands (where they exceed 303,000 euros) and Madrid (290,000 euros), but ahead of Barcelona (around 198,000 euros).

The average mortgage signed in Spain in June was around 168,000 euros, which represents a 15.5% increase compared to 145,700 euros in June 2024.

If the analysis is expanded to the entire first half of the year, the data is slightly different, but still shows a similar trend: Malaga lags behind in mortgage signings both in comparison with the figures for Spain as a whole and when all provinces are ranked by the growth recorded in mortgage signings thus far in 2025, given that the Costa del Sol province appears very low in this ranking.

Between January and June, a total of 10,739 mortgage loans were taken out in Malaga, representing an 18.28% increase compared to the figure for the same period in 2024. Across all of Spain, the increase is close to 25%. Only seven provinces have seen growth rates below that recorded for the Costa del Sol province. In Andalucía, only Cordoba has seen growth, although still less than 14% year-on-year. Among the hottest provinces, only the Balearic Islands, where the number of loans signed for has risen by 15% year-on-year. Only Soria has seen a drop (-4.3%) in mortgage signings compared to last year's figures.

However, as was the case for June, Malaga is the sixth province in terms of total mortgages signed. Yet, in terms of the mortgage amount, it is third in the ranking. The average loan to finance a house purchase in the first half of the year in Malaga was close to 208,000 euros. Only the Balearic Islands (278,200 euros) and Madrid (245,142 euros) were ahead. Malaga province is well ahead of Seville (an average mortgage of 137,000 euros) that, in turn, is below the national average of 158,180 euros.

Here is yet another figure demonstrating that Malaga is lagging behind Spain as a whole. At the national level, the number of mortgages taken out in the first half of the year reached its highest levels since 2011. However, Malaga province has not managed to beat the 2022 tally when, between January and June, 11,673 loans were taken out. The Malaga cycle has arguably been ahead of its time, as 2019 saw it beat the 2011 figures, an achievement that was matched in 2022 following the pandemic. Nevertheless, this recent peak seems unbeatable in Malaga for now, perhaps due to the high property prices.