Malaga province hits highest level of mortgage contracts since 2010

The opposite, however, is true for new mortgage agreements. According to the INE, 12,864 mortgage contracts financed property purchases in the province, which not only represents a 19% increase, but also the highest figure since 2010 (12,901 mortgage contracts during the first half of that year).

If we look solely at June, there were 2,646 mortgages, comparable only to June 2009 (2,611) and the highest since June 2007, at the height of the boom, when the figure stood at 4,585. While property sales also rebounded in June to 3,154, this was insufficient to exceed the levels of 2022, which saw the sale of nearly 3,900 homes.

The figures for Malaga contrast with those recorded for Spain as a whole. Property purchases have fallen this year compared with last year, although at a slower rate than in the province: the decline stands at 2.6%. Meanwhile, the number of mortgages has risen by 7%, which is also less than in the province.

Both in Malaga and in Spain as a whole, the number of mortgages is rising. What lies behind this trend?

The first conclusion is that direct payments, usually attributed to investment, are on the wane. The data shows that cash-only purchases are falling. In the first half of 2025, 18,535 property purchases took place, of which 10,793 were financed by a mortgage, that is, 58%.

During the same period this year, there were 17,710 direct property sales in Malaga, compared with 12,864 mortgages, from which we can deduce that more than 72% of property purchases were financed by banks.

According to Idealista managing director of the mortgages division Juan Villén, the figures for mortgage contracts are "surprising" given "the slowdown in property purchases". He believes there are two main possible explanations.

On the one hand, the profile of buyers has changed, with an increase in the number of people who need a mortgage to buy a home. On the other hand, there is greater activity in mortgage refinancing, which inflates the total figure.

In the province, the trend is even more pronounced. In the first half of last year, Malaga ranked sixth in terms of the number of mortgages, behind Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Seville. This year, however, it is in fourth place, having overtaken both Alicante and Seville.

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