Price of housing for sale continues to soar in Malaga and but rental prices are slowing down

The average price of new rental agreements signed in Malaga city places it as the sixth most expensive provincial capital to live in - a position that is at odds with its fairly low position in the rankings for average salary and per capita income. This imbalance, coupled with the fact that the city's five-year cumulative increase stands at 52% (the third highest in all Spain), may finally be causing the price rise curve to flatten out for rentals. At least, that is what the latest data seems to indicate from the third quarter of this year, made available to SUR by property appraisal firm Gesvalt. Their latest report indicates that, between the summers of 2024 and 2025, the price of rental housing in Malaga's capital has risen by less than 2% (specifically 1.6%).

According to the latest data in this third-quarter report, the price per square metre for renting in the city is 16.01 euros per month, a 3% decrease compared to the previous quarter. Using this scale, a 70-square-metre apartment in Malaga now has an average monthly rent of 1,120 euros.

What continues to soar unabated, with no signs of slowing down, is the property sales market. Between the third quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2025, the average price of property for sale in Malaga city increased by 14.6%. The price per square metre has now reached another new, all-time high: 2,932 euros, meaning a 70-square-metre apartment now costs 205,000 euros on average to buy. This year-on-year increase makes Malaga the tenth city with the highest cumulative price increases over the last year. Today, buying a home in the Costa del Sol capital is 49% more expensive than it was five years ago.

While the data suggests a return to somewhat lower rental prices in Malaga city, the same cannot be said at the provincial level. In the last rolling 12 months, there has once again been an increase of over 10%. Specifically, the average rent rose by 10.8%, reaching 16.93 euros per square metre. As such, Malaga has increased its distance from the other seven provinces of Andalucía: Cadiz is at 11.48 euros per square metre (up 7.3%), Seville at 11.35 euros (up 10.7%), Huelva at 10.23 euros (up 7.6%), Granada at 9.89 euros (up 7.2%), Almeria at 9.25 euros (up 7.7%), Cordoba at 8.29 euros (up 9.8%) and Jaen at 5.99 euros (little change).

This provincial trend is undoubtedly influenced by the situation in municipalities on the Costa del Sol such as Marbella, Estepona and Torremolinos, where rental prices continue to skyrocket. In fact, Marbella is the most expensive municipality with a plus-50k population for renting in all Spain, with an average monthly rent of 21.86 euros per square mtre, followed by L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (19.32 euros) and Castelldefels (18.71 euros). Estepona and Torremolinos also stand out in the national ranking with prices above 16 euros per square metre per month.

In the property sales market, Malaga "continues to stand out as the most dynamic province in Andalucía, with an average price of 2,892 euros per square metre and annual growth of 12.4%," states the Gesvalt report. It is followed by Cadiz with 1,761 euros per square metre (up 10.6%), Granada with 1,377 euros (up 10.1%), Seville with 1,348 (up 7.7%) and Huelva with 1,314 (up 11.1%). Almeria reached 1,266 euros per square metre (up 8.6%), while Cordoba recorded 1,086 (up 2.3%). Jaen remains the most affordable province, with 827 euros per square metre, just a slight increase of 1.1%. Andalucía as a whole has increased by 10.2% year-on-year. "Although this is a significant increase, it is below the national average, which was 13.8%," notes Gesvalt.

Gregorio Abril, Gesvalt's regional director for Andalucía, believes that, based on this data, the Andalusian residential market "maintains a very active dynamic, with Malaga as the clear driving force for housing in Andalucía, both for sales and for rentals". He further comments that "Demand continues to clearly outstrip supply, which continues to drive up prices, especially in the most attractive areas of the region. The upturn in prices of luxury homes is notable, impacting the overall residential average." His conclusion is that there is not going to be "a change in this trend in the short term".

"The initiatives promoted by the Junta de Andalucía are a necessary step to address the imbalance between supply and demand," says Gesvalt's regional director. While it is still too early to see tangible results, they are beginning to facilitate the mobilisation of land and buildings to increase the supply of affordable and protected housing and contribute to the local population's access to housing. However, this progress is being hampered by the lack of workforce or the inaction of some city councils in implementing the LISTA [a regional law to enable more effective urban planning and land use]", says Gregorio Abril.