Almost 80,000 tourist rental properties already registered in Malaga and on the Costa del Sol

In the midst of the offensive against tourist properties for rent, in which the city of Malaga is leading the way in measures to curb growth in this area, the supply of holiday rentals continues to grow. It does so at an average rate of fifteen registrations per day being added to the Junta's 'Turismo' register. It would appear the rate of registrations has accelerated as limitations on such licences are announced. With data as of the 29th of last month, the number of properties registered with a licence to accommodate tourists has risen to 78,950 in Malaga province. These properties provide over 400,000 beds, 418,740 to be precise. The figure, to put it in context, is almost four times the number of beds offered by the 921 hotels and hostels in the province. The trend continues to be upwards.

Far from slowing down the unstoppable rise in the last few years, Turismo's list for Malaga shows that the announcement of measures to ban new holiday rental properties has only accelerated the pace of registrations. All this on the eve of Malaga council's approval on Monday of a modification to the city's urban development plan (PGOU) that will prohibit the registration of new holiday rentals in a total of 43 areas around the provincial capital. This proposed modification is the result of a study carried out that found these residential areas to be saturated with more than 8% of this type of property.

Furthermore, statements from such as Malaga's mayor, Francisco de la Torre, that he does not want even one more tourist property in the city have the effect that more property owners are taking the step now of registering their properties for holiday rentals before this happens, even though many of them do not plan to put said properties on the holiday market. It is estimated that 30% of the registered properties have the licence to be marketed on rental platforms, but they are not in operation, only registered.

It is interesting to note that, according to Turismo's data, from the 29 to 31 October the average number of properties joining the register was 32, double the usual number. These are days in which several measures are causing ripples. For instance, on 28 October Ronda town hall approved an ordinance to regulate tourist accommodation in the town. This ruling sets out that these properties must have a minimum of 45 square metres of living space, that those of more than 60 square metres must have two bathrooms and that, in buildings where there are residential properties, those with tourist licences must not exceed 20% and must be located on the ground or first floors.

Marbella, Torremolinos and Benalmádena are in the same battle to curb the growth of holiday rentals at the behest of the new regulations governing this activity in Andalucía, approved in February by the Junta, regulations that include tools for town councils to limit the supply if they so choose. These municipalities are among those with the highest supply of such properties in Malaga. In turn, Malaga province accounts for more than half of the supply in the entire region of Andalucía.

In fact, data from the Junta de Andalucía show a high concentration of holiday homes on the Costa del Sol. Just eight municipalities account for 82% of the registered properties, 64,815 as of 29th October, and 81% of the total number of beds (340,920).

It is also surprising that this 'Top 8' of municipalities with the highest volume of holiday rental properties is not led by the capital of the Costa del Sol but by Marbella, which has already commissioned the University of Málaga (UMA) to carry out a new study on the state of tourist housing in the town in order to draw up a definitive map of the real situation. Meanwhile the current drafting of Marbella's PGOU aims to implement measures to regulate and, above all, balance the use of tourist housing with residential use. Specifically in this municipality there are 13,763 registered holiday rental properties providing 80,008 beds. Malaga is a short distance behind with 12,992 properties and 67,561 beds to accommodate visitors. Both places account for 33.8% of the registered offer in the province as a whole and 35.2% of the beds.

Next in the ranking is Mijas to complete the podium, followed by Benalmádena. This municipality has already released a study that is presented as key to determine the measures it wants to impose in the short term to limit this type of accommodation, especially in a few areas marked in red as those under most pressure. Estepona, Fuengirola and Torremolinos are next. The latter is also already working on measures to regulate holiday accommodation gradually in the coming months (to be included in the town's urban development plan currently being worked on). Nerja closes what is an important list that shines a harsh light on the current situation of tourist accommodation in the province just as it reaches a crucial watershed as to the next steps.