Property
Sections
Highlight
Sections
Highlight
The average price of housing in Malaga province stood at 2,440.10 euros per square metre in the third quarter of this year, according to data from Spain’s ministry of housing. This represents an increase of 9.4% compared to the levels of a year ago. The figure puts Malaga in third place amid the provinces where house prices have risen the most in the last 12 months, only behind Valencia (10.2%) and the Balearic Islands (9.9%).
According to the assessed value per square metre in Malaga - the marker used by the ministry to compile its statistics, not the prices at which properties are sold - the province is the sixth highest in the country behind only Madrid, the Balearic Islands, Guipúzcoa, Barcelona and Vizcaya. In Spain as a whole the price of flats and apartments has risen by 6% in the last year to 1,921 euros per square metre. In Andalucía the increase is 6.4% to almost 1,600 euros.
Malaga is, therefore, an expensive province. Yet within it there is diversity. The report from the ministry of housing also gives the figures for municipalities with more than 25,000 inhabitants. Interestingly, the most expensive price per square metre does not correspond to Malaga city. In fact, the city is among the cheapest - or rather, the least expensive - of the main municipalities in the province.
The price of housing in Malaga city is 2,605.20 euros per square metre. Above this figure is Marbella, which is the most expensive town for house purchases at 3,324.60 euros/m2, followed by Torremolinos (3,095.10 euros), Benalmádena (2,918.8 euros), Fuengirola (2,876.10 euros), Rincón de la Victoria (2,782.70 euros), Estepona (2,727.70 euros) and even Mijas (2,634.10 euros).
In summary: of the 12 municipalities with over 25,000 inhabitants in the province there are seven where housing is more expensive than in the provincial capital. That places Malaga city in eighth place in the provincial price ranking and there are only four where the price per square metre is lower: Alhaurín de la Torre (2,236.20 euros), Vélez-Málaga (1,965.70 euros), then Ronda (1,283 euros) and lastly Antequera (1,213).
For Carlos Smerdou, CEO of real estate company Foro Consultores, the explanation for these varying figures lies in the type of demand that exists in some municipalities as opposed to others. For those that are currently more expensive, he believes that the holiday component lends weight, a lot of weight. In turn, José Antonio Pérez, teacher of real estate ecosystem at the Real Estate Business School in Torremolinos, stresses that, behind the locations with higher average prices than Malaga city, there is “the coveted seafront and sea views” as well as the “higher proportion of purchases by non-resident nationals, Europeans and foreigners due to tourism (culture, climate, health, leisure, gastronomy, education, etc.), as well as investment or as digital nomads.”
If we compare the price of housing in the municipalities of Malaga province with prices in the rest of the Spanish towns with a 25,000-plus population, we also gain some interesting findings. Marbella, the most expensive town in Malaga, is in 17th place in the Spanish ranking, Torremolinos is in 21st place and yet Malaga city does not make an appearance until number 45. Thus, if Malaga is the sixth most expensive province in Spain, if we talk about the provincial capital, it is seventh in value per square metre behind Madrid, San Sebastián, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Bilbao and Cadiz.
Torremolinos is the municipality in the province of Malaga where house prices have risen the most over the last year (18.3%). The town is followed by Rincón de la Victoria and Estepona (above 16%), and in Vélez-Málaga and Mijas (15.4% and 14.2% respectively). The provincial average rise is 9.4% and prices in Malaga city increased by 13.6%. In Marbella, meanwhile, the increase in the price of housing has been the lowest in the whole province, 4.2%
The price of property in Malaga province is at an all-time high. In the second quarter of 2024 it surpassed the previous record of 2,348.30 euros set in the first quarter of 2008, before the bursting of the financial and real estate bubble and the slide into recession. With data from the third quarter the average value in the province is almost 4% above the levels of the property boom just over 15 years ago.
The situation is most striking in Torremolinos, where the current price of around 3,100 euros is more than 17% higher than the highs reached between 2007 and 2008 at around 2,640 euros. In Marbella today housing is around 15% more expensive than in the previous boom. As for Rincón de la Victoria, current prices are over 13% higher than they were 15 years ago. Also in Fuengirola, Benalmádena and Alhaurín de la Torre, valuations are higher than in 2008 and by wider margins than in the provincial capital. Pérez points out that if we add the data from Torrox and Nerja, which are also setting record levels, the feeling of price saturation along mainly the western Costa del Sol becomes even stronger.
So, are new luxury developments responsible for raising the average? Pérez points out that there are too few transactions involving new construction to pull up the average.
Among the dozen largest towns in the province, there are four in which record levels have not yet been reached and the furthest from those levels is Antequera, where housing is now 37% cheaper than in 2008. Then it was close to 2,000 euros per square metre, while now it is barely over 1,200 euros. Meanwhile in Ronda the record was set at around 1,815 euros and now the price is 1,283, almost 30% lower. For its part, in Vélez-Málaga, the current average price (1,965 euros per square metre) is 13.65% lower than the peak of the cycle. Why are they so far behind? "More supply available and less demand," states José Antonio Pérez. Curiously, in Estepona neither have the peaks of 15 years ago been repeated.
What can we expect from now on regarding house prices? Smerdou says: "A year ago I didn't think they could go up so much, but I think they will continue to rise: demand is still strong, there is no supply and the Euribor has gone down."
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Sigues a Cristina Vallejo. Gestiona tus autores en Mis intereses.
Contenido guardado. Encuéntralo en tu área personal.
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Necesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.