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The rise in property prices has not slowed down either the number of sales or the number of mortgage deals signed for in Malaga province. During the month of March, some 2,022 mortgage loans were taken out in Malaga, which represents an increase of 46% compared to the figure for the same period the previous year. This is a similar increase to that recorded at national level: in Spain as a whole, 42,831 loans were taken out to finance house purchases, 44.5% more than a year earlier. These figures were published on Tuesday by Spain's INE national statistics institute.
However, in Malaga's case, there is one particular issue with this huge increase: the fact that the average mortgage amount signed for in this province is now the third most expensive in Spain, with the March average being 215,593 euros. Only Madrid (245,720 euros) and the Balearic Islands (262,348 euros) beat Malaga. Among these three, the Costa del Sol province is the one to register the highest increase in this type of loan in the last month. In the Balearic Islands the increase is 30% year-on-year and, for Madrid, it is up by 15%, leaving both cases below the Spanish average.
Moreover, the average mortgage loan taken out in Malaga is 37.6% higher than the March average across Spain, which stood at 156,700 euros.
At the other end of the scale is Ciudad Real with the cheapest average mortgage being 82,186 euros. In Andalucía, that honour goes to Jaen at almost 90,300 euros on average.
Here is yet another fact that demonstrates how dynamic the mortgage business and real estate market are for Malaga. Despite being the sixth most populated province in the country, it is in fifth place for the highest number of mortgage loans signed for in March, behind only Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante and ahead of Seville (1,876 loans). In March last year, Malaga was also the fifth province in terms of mortgages signed, but it was behind Seville and ahead of Alicante.
25% of mortgages that are signed in Andalucía
are done in Malaga.
In any case, both this year and last year, one out of every four mortgages signed in Andalucía is taken out in Malaga. Of the nearly 8,200 loans signed across the region in the last month of available data, more than 2,000 were registered in Malaga.
The latest figure on mortgage signings is the best monthly performance for March in Malaga since 2022 (2,231 loans). Before that date, the figure of 2,000 loans had not been exceeded since 2010. Something similar is happening at a national level: the best March since 2022 in figures that have not been seen since 2011. Julián Villén, managing director of Idealista's mortgage branch, explains that the rise in mortgage activity recorded in March is due both to the strength of the volume of property deals and to the seasonal factor of Easter falling in April this year as opposed to 2024 when it fell in March. "The market remains very strong, both in terms of transactions and average amounts, driven by rising house prices and the banks' proactive approach to mortgage lending." The mortgage expert adds: "In the current environment of low interest rates, fixed rate mortgages continue to predominate, doubling the volume of mixed rate mortgages, while variable rate mortgages are almost non-existent."
At this time it is also possible to take stock of the first quarter of this year. Once again Malaga stands out in the national comparison. Between January and March, 5,231 mortgages were signed for in this province, representing an increase of 25% compared to the same period last year. In Spain as a whole, the number of loans signed increased by 18%, close to 120,000.
However, let's be careful because, so far this year, Malaga is not the fifth, but the sixth province where most mortgage loans have been signed, according to its ranking by population, behind Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Alicante.
While the average mortgage signed in Malaga in March exceeded 215,000 euros, the average mortgage signed for the entire first quarter was around 208,000 euros, and it is also the third most expensive in all of Spain, again after the Balearic Islands (267,000 euros) and Madrid (240,000 euros). The average homeowner loan signed for in Spain as a whole in the first quarter stood at 255,000 euros.
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