Renting an average 80-square-metre flat in Malaga now costs almost 1,200 euros per month

Renting an average 80 square-metre flat in the Andalucía region now costs 845 euros - or 10.56 euros per square metre per month - according to data from the Spanish real estate portal Fotocasa. This is 17% below the national average that, for the first time in history, has exceeded the 1,000 euros mark.

The average in Andalucía is lowered, for example, by Jaén, which is the most affordable provincial city in Spain for renting, with its 573 euros per month - or 7.16 euros per square metre per month. But that's not the case with Malaga as it is the most expensive city in the entire region of Andalucía, where renting an 80 square-metre flat now costs on average 1,195 euros per month - or almost 15 euros per square metre per month. This means that renting in Malaga is 18% more expensive than in the rest of Spain.

Despite prices being up in Malaga, there are five other cities in Spain where the price is even higher than the capital of the Costa del Sol. In Barcelona an average 80m2 flat costs 1,775 euros and in Madrid, the price is around 1,700 euros, which means that rents in both these cities are around 70% more expensive than the Spanish average. Meanwhile, in San Sebastian the price of a typical 80m2 flat is over 1,500 euros, in Palma de Mallorca, 1,400 euros and in Bilbao it is close to 1,300 euros.

Seville is the second most expensive provincial capital in Andalucía, costing an average of just over 1,000 euros per month, a figure that practically matches the Spanish average, having risen by almost 12% in the last year.

Now if we take a look at the pricing trends, we can see that in Malaga in particular there are signs of slowdown. However, this is speaking only in relative terms when compared to what has happened in Spain, Andalucía and Seville. In the capital of the Costa del Sol rents have risen by 6.5% in the last twelve months. For the same period rents in Spain have increased by 9% to 12.65 euros per square metre per month, in Andalucía by 7.9% to 10.56 euros and, in the Andalusian capital (Seville), by almost 12% to nearly 13 euros per square metre per month.

Among the most expensive provincial capitals in Spain, only in San Sebastian and Bilbao did prices rise less than in Malaga, with an increase of 2.1% and 6.2% year-on-year respectively. Meanwhile, in Madrid, rents are still rising at year-on-year rates of close to 15%, while in Palma de Mallorca they are still registering double-digit rises (11.3%) and Barcelona increasing by 8.2%.