Malaga province sees more mortgages granted despite a drop in sales driven by fewer cash buyers

A curious phenomenon is occurring in the Malaga real estate market - the number of home sales is down this year compared to 2025, but at the same time, mortgage lending is increasing.

Data on housing sales in Malaga published on Friday reveals that between January and April 2026, the province sold 11,662 homes. This represents a 6.75% drop compared to a year earlier, even though April did see a slight increase in sales (2% year-on-year, reaching 2,825).

In Malaga, the decline in real estate sales is occurring at a faster pace than in Spain as a whole, where it stands at 2.4%, reaching 231,714 sales between January and April, down from approximately 237,400 in 2025.

Idealista spokesperson Francisco Iñareta's assessment serves to explain the drop in home sales. "Housing prices have reached levels that make access impossible for a large part of the population and the increased cost of financing further complicates matters."

At the same time, Iñareta predicts: "In this situation, it seems clear that we are heading towards price stabilisation."

This Monday, however, the national institute of statistics (INE) revealed a significant increase in mortgage approvals, particularly in the province of Malaga. In April, the number of loans rose to 1,995, a year-on-year increase of 15%, exceeding the 2.3% rise recorded across Spain as a whole.

If we broaden the focus to the first four months of the year, the trend is similar: between January and April, 8,183 mortgage loans were signed in Malaga, 17% higher than in the same period in 2025, when the number of loans did not reach 7,000.

The growth in Malaga was, once again, much higher than at the national level, which barely reached 8%, exceeding 171,000 mortgages in the first four months of the year.

How can we interpret the fact that, while sales are declining, mortgage applications to finance purchases are increasing? According to Juan Villén of the real estate portal Idealista, this is due to a changing buyer profile "towards consumers with a greater need for financing".

In other words, purchases requiring mortgage financing are gaining ground over cash buyers, perhaps a sign that investor money is withdrawing and that residents are accelerating their purchases in anticipation of further increases in real estate prices and official interest rates.

Figures corroborate this: in the first four months of 2025, there were 12,509 home sales in the province, compared to 6,953 mortgages signed, meaning that while bank loans financed 55% of purchases, 45% were paid without financing. A year later, between January and April 2026, there were 11,662 purchases, of which 8,183 were financed (70%), meaning that direct payments dropped to 30%.

What is happening in the rest of Spain? While mortgages financed nearly 67% of purchases in the first four months of 2025 (almost 159,000 out of 237,395 transactions), in the same period of 2026 they covered 74% of purchases (171,564 loans compared to 231,714 sales). The national picture is similar, although the trend appears to be more pronounced at the provincial level.

Among the major markets, Malaga is experiencing the fastest growth in mortgage lending so far in 2026. In fact, only Girona, Ciudad Real, Ávila, Zamora and Toledo have seen higher growth.

Furthermore, Malaga ranks fourth this year in the number of mortgages, behind only Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Meanwhile, in terms of property sales, Malaga is fifth, behind Barcelona, Madrid, Alicante and Valencia. Seville appears in sixth place.

The average mortgage loan in Malaga has also increased, consistent with the relentless increase in the price per square metre.

According to data from the INE, the average mortgage loan in the province this year is approaching 241,000 euros, representing an increase of approximately 15.5% compared to a year ago, when it was close to 209,000 euros. Meanwhile, the average mortgage in Spain has increased by nearly 11% year-on-year, reaching 172,650 euros in 2026. This means that mortgages in Malaga are 40% more expensive than the national average.

The average mortgage in Malaga this year is the third most expensive in the country, behind the Balearic Islands, which now exceeds 300,000 euros, and Madrid, which surpasses 250,000. The typical mortgage in the Costa del Sol province is therefore higher than in Barcelona, which averages around 205,000 euros, as well as in Gipuzkoa and Biscay (200,000 and 183,000, respectively). Only one other province, Girona, exceeds the national average of 172,000 euros.

Among all these provinces, Malaga has seen the most significant increase in the average mortgage price.

The Spanish provinces with the lowest mortgage rates are Lugo, Ciudad Real, Jaén and Zamora, where the average mortgage is less than 100,000 euros.

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