Home sales fell in Malaga by 15.8% this past year after the increases in interest rates and the increase in the cost of mortgage financing, but that has not prevented the province from continuing to present data that confirms it as one of the real estate markets. most dynamic in the country. According to the latest data published these days by the Ministry of Development, the value of transactions carried out in 2023 for free housing (which accounts for 99% of the market, since the VPO is still very residual) reached 10,139 million euros in Malaga. , a volume that places it as the third real estate market in the country in total investment, only surpassed by Madrid (22,195 million) and Barcelona (14,286).
Contributing to the achievement of such a high volume was the fact that Málaga, with 35,515 houses sold in 2023, was the fifth province that sold the most houses in 2023 after Madrid (75,117), Barcelona (60,966), Alicante (53,335) and Valencia ( 39,354). However, the higher market prices meant that, despite registering fewer operations than these two Valencian provinces, the joint sales value was higher, thus rising to that third step.
In fact, Malaga is the sixth most expensive province in Spain with an average value of 2,272 euros per square meter, the highest since 2008. Only Madrid (3,080), the Balearic Islands (2,957), Guipúzcoa (2,902), and Barcelona are ahead. (2,614) and Vizcaya (2,498). The price of housing in the province of Malaga rose by 9.3% last year and has accumulated an increase of 57% in the last decade.
The Ministry's figures also reflect that the average value of free market houses sold in Malaga reached 290,400 euros, also being the third highest in the country, in this case, after the records of the Balearic Islands (377,900 euros on average) and Madrid. (301,700).
Prices, in any case, are rising at a similar pace in both segments: new housing became 8.5% more expensive in 2023 (up to 2,614 euros per meter, the highest price in twelve years) and is 61% more expensive than ten years ago. The used one, for its part, rose 9.7% last year to 2,262 euros, and has accumulated an increase of 56.8% since 2013.
The second-hand market monopolizes, as usual, transaction figures. The Ministry classifies as new housing those that are up to five years old and as used those that exceed that period. Well, nine out of every ten houses sold last year in Malaga were used (31,969), and only the remaining 10% corresponded to new construction (3,546).
«In the province of Malaga the demand for housing is much higher than the current supply, both in the new construction and second-hand segments and this continues to maintain pressured prices. There is a deficit and for this reason we have to continue producing at a good pace: Malaga is a strategic point, a huge focus of attraction," the general secretary of the Association of Builders and Developers (ACP), Violeta Aragón, tells this newspaper.
The enormous activity of the Malaga coast is reflected, on the one hand, in the fact that the capital, with 6,748 sales and purchases in 2023, is the seventh Spanish municipality with the most operations nationwide. And on the other hand, in the strength of the Costa del Sol, which presents five other municipalities among the 50 that sell the most in Spain: they are Marbella (13th, with 4,523 operations), Mijas (18th, with 3,359), Estepona ( 25th, with 2,691), Benalmádena (41st, with 2,058) and Fuengirola (43rd, with 1,975).
Marbella and Mijas are also among the five on the Spanish coast (excluding provincial capitals) with the highest number of sales, along with Torrevieja (7,155) and Orihuela (4,790) in Alicante and Gijón (3,479) in Asturias.
The list of Malaga municipalities that sell the most is completed with Vélez-Málaga (1,731), Torremolinos (1,630), Manilva (1,225), Rincón de la Victoria (1,107) and Benahavís (1,069), to name those that exceeded one thousand in 2023 of units.
A very relevant factor is the importance of the foreign buyer. According to the Ministry, in 2023, 10,637 transactions were registered by foreign buyers in Malaga (both residents and non-residents), which represents 38% of the total sales. The province is one of the most active in this segment, with almost 60% of all home purchases made by foreigners in Andalusia and 12% of national ones.
«I think that, in this past year, the increase in interest rates has done more damage to the national buyer than the price increases. This has slowed down many operations, and now the client is waiting for rates to stabilize, with the possibility that they could even go down in the medium term. That would undoubtedly help reactivate sales for the local buyer," he says.
Increase supply
The ACP considers that the only formula to contain prices is to increase supply. Aragón recalls that new home prices rise due to factors such as improved energy efficiency, the commitment to improved common areas or the increase in the cost of materials or labor. These elements do not affect second-hand goods, which, however, also raise prices significantly, which indicates, in his opinion, that this increase is mainly due to "a criterion of low supply and high demand," he comments.
In this sense, the Andalusian employers' association Fadeco Promotores presented a few months ago to the Junta de Andalucía the project 'Andalusian Impulse for Sustainable Soils' (IMPASS), where it proposes a proposal to reactivate land management and urbanization that would allow land to be loaded for the construction of more than 50,000 homes in the region.
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