Malaga province records fourth highest increase in housing prices in Spain

The average price per square metre reaches 2,327.40 euros after climbing by 8% over the past year and 60% since 2013. Demand for housing is not slacking off in Malaga and prices are already close to the maximum they reached in 2008, that is, the level prior to the bursting of the real estate bubble, according to the latest data.

The price per square metre rose by 8.1% in Malaga province in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a year earlier, according to data published on Tuesday by Spain’s ministry of housing. Malaga province has the fourth highest increase in the country, behind only Teruel (10.1%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (9.1%) and the Balearic Islands (8.3%).

Evolution of the sale price in Malaga.

The increase in housing prices in Malaga over the past 12 months is practically double the Spanish average, where it has been limited to 4.3%, the data shows. And it is also higher than that recorded in Andalucía, where the value of property has risen by 6.1% in the past year.

Annual variation in the home sale price.

Precisely, this is the same percentage that has increased the brick in Huelva, the second province in which housing has risen the most in Andalucía. Meanwhile, in Cádiz the increase was 5.8%. In Almeria, Seville and Granada, the rise was about 5%. Behind them were Cordoba (1.1%), as well as Jaén, which recorded a rise of just 0.1%.

Global financial crisis

With this latest rise in the price of property in Malaga, its value now stands at 2,327.40 euros per square metre, a figure that practically equals the 2,348.30 euros per square metre at which the maximums were set in 2008, before the global financial crisis. From there, housing in Malaga did not stop falling until the fourth quarter of 2013, when its value stood at 1,447.2 euros. From this point onwards it has recovered by almost 60%.

If the price per square metre in Malaga closed the first quarter of this year barely 1% away from 2008 levels, in Spain, the recovery has not been as rapid: the 1,898 euros per square metre that free housing is priced at is still around 10% below the historic highs that were set at 2,100 euros.

Andalucía is even further away from reaching pre-2008 levels: the current 1,555 euros per square metre contrasts with the record high of 1,805 euros. This means that prices are still 13.9% below their peak.

Evolution of the sale price.

Although there are regions in which the 2008 levels have already been surpassed: in the Balearic Islands housing is now 25% more expensive than 2008, while in Madrid it has exceeded the levels of that time by 3.6% and in Santa Cruz de Tenerife the figure now equals that of 15 years ago.

The sixth most expensive province
Returning to the present analysis, with an average price of 2,327 euros per square metre in Malaga, according to the data, the province is the sixth most expensive in Spain to buy a home. This ranking is headed by Madrid and the Balearic Islands, where it is above 3,000 euros, while in Guipúzcoa it is close to that level – and that means it is around 4% off record highs. In Barcelona, meanwhile, it stands at 2,645.6 euros – which means that it is also around 4% away from the record.

On the other end of the spectrum are Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Jaén, where the average price per square metre does not even reach 800 euros.

Home sale price.

The ministry of housing statistics also discriminate between new builds and used free housing. Or, more precisely, that which is up to five years old and that which is older than this: the newest housing had an average price of 2,688.60 euros per metre – its value exceeds the average for the province -, while older houses are priced at an average of 2,314 euros per square metre, below the average.

Both have also shown dissimilar behaviour: flats of five years and older have risen by 8.1% in the last year, while those of lesser age have registered a rise of only 7%.

Another phenomenon must also be taken into account: the behaviour of prices in the last quarter compared to the end of 2023 – that is, what happened between January and March – has not been so strong in the province of Malaga in relative terms. The rise in housing prices over these three months has been 2.4%. It is true that this is practically double the rise recorded in Spain – 1.3%. But on this occasion, more areas have been ahead of it: without leaving Andalucía, for example, in Huelva (2.8%) or in Cadiz (2.5%). Although this is a very short period, subject to many distortions, and the differences are still only a few tenths of a percentage point.

Source: SUR in English, June 2024