Málaga Leads The Way

In 2025, there were 144,269 property transactions in Andalucía, 19.6% of the overall property market in Spain. Historically, foreign buyers account for roughly 20% of Andalucía’s property market, and 2025 was almost exactly on that mark at 19.03%, with 27,454 purchases by overseas buyers, split roughly 50/50 between residents and non-residents. However, the regional average masks a much more concentrated reality: foreign demand is heavily focused in just a handful of locations.  As a result, when it comes to the overseas property market, it’s better to think about the individual provinces rather than the autonomous region as a whole. 

There are eight provinces in Andalucía and the 2025 statistics show that 25% of all transactions occurred in just one of them, Málaga. Of the 35,780 property transactions in the province, 15,242 were by foreign buyers, a market share of 42.5%, more than double both the regional and national foreign market share averages. In addition, while the average price paid per square metre in Andalucía overall was €1,685, it was 71% higher at €2,892 pm² in Málaga province.  Almería was the only other province in Andalucía to register foreign market share above the 20% average (27.7%). However, at the other end of the scale, six of the eight provinces had foreign market share way below the national level, the lowest being Córdoba (5.26%) and Seville (5.29%). Why the big difference?

As I pointed out in our annual report for the Spanish Property Market as a whole, only five of Spain’s autonomous regions have a Mediterranean coast, and these accounted for 73% of all overseas buyers in 2025. There’s a similar divide between Andalucía’s provinces that have a Mediterranean coastline and those that don’t - and it’s a 50/50 split - four do and four don’t.  And the statistics clearly show the benefits of having Mediterranean coasts. The three inland provinces — Córdoba, Jaén and Seville — together with Huelva on the Atlantic coast of western Andalucia, recorded just 3,854 foreign buyers in 2025. In contrast, the four Mediterranean provinces attracted 27,454 overseas purchasers, representing 86% of all foreign demand in Andalucía. However, of those four Mediterranean provinces, Málaga accounted for 55.5% of the transactions by overseas buyers, so it’s quite clear it is the engine of the overseas property market in Andalucía.

Costa del Sol (and del Golf)

In a previous blog post, I highlighted how the geographical variety of Andalucía has produced several distinct property markets, ranging from the windy Atlantic coast with some of the best wind and kite-surfing conditions in the world, to year-round Mediterranean warmth on the coasts, to inland locations of very hot summers and very cold winters, finishing up with one of Europe’s highest ski resorts in the Sierra Nevada. And it’s no different at the provincial level - Málaga can be divided into several distinct markets, and finding out which one best suits your requirements is the first step, or should be, in every buyer’s search. Don’t look at specific properties without understanding the differences in locations.

Málaga province’s coastline is all Mediterranean, about 160kms in length, between Punta Chullera in the west to Nerja in the east, with Málaga city just about at the midpoint between the two. This stretch of coast is known worldwide as the Costa del Sol, with a secondary title of the Costa del Golf. With the highest density of courses in Europe, 300+ days of sunshine annually, and the mildest winters on the European mainland, I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say it is Europe’s year-round golfing capital. Nearly half of Andalucía’s 102 golf courses are in Málaga province, with golfing high season between October and May giving this area a genuine 12-month season - the traditional ‘low season’ has effectively disappeared. The majority of the province’s golf courses are to the west of Málaga city, with the highest density and the highest quality courses to the west of Marbella.

Within the province, the prime property areas are the Marbella municipality, the Benahavís municipality, which takes in the hills just behind the coast, heading up the road to Ronda, and Estepona. However, there are 208 municipalities in Málaga province, but just these three, often called the Golden Triangle, accounted for 24% of the total market in 2025. Inevitably, these locations are the most expensive. The average price per square metre in 2025 in Málaga province overall was €2,892, but in Estepona it was €3,214, €4,112 in Benahavís, and €4,424 in Marbella. And it’s also clear that in the case of foreign market share, these top-quality prime locations in the province of Málaga are in a league of their own. Foreign market share in 2025 was 62% in the Marbella municipality, 84.3% in Benahavís, and 70.8% in Estepona, compared with 19.8% nationally, 19.03% in Andalucía, and 42.9% at the provincial level.

The Inland Option

Inland, the province’s prime locations include Ronda, Gaucín, Coín, Ojén, and Alhaurín el Grande, with buyers typically looking for a country property with some land or a character village house. However, I think it’s fair to call this sector of the overseas market a niche market attracting a small number of overseas buyers. The figures tell the story. The total number of purchases in 2025 in Ronda were just 445, of which 7.7% (34) were from overseas, 36 in Gaucín (43% foreign), 276 in Alhaurín el Grande (39% foreign), Ojén 136 (72% foreign),and 369 in Coín (25.4% foreign market share). But living inland is very different from the coasts, and buyers must be comfortable with those differences. In terms of the climate, expect much hotter summer temperatures and much colder winters.

Although Málaga province does not have an Atlantic coast for wind and kite surfing, nor a ski resort of its own, the motorway network places both within easy reach. From most locations in the province, the ski slopes of the Sierra Nevada or the wind beaches of Tarifa are comfortable day trips. That combination helps explain why Málaga has become the engine of Andalucía’s international property market. Buyers are not simply purchasing homes on the Costa del Sol — they are buying access to one of Europe’s most diverse lifestyle regions, where Mediterranean climate, world-class golf, mountain landscapes and easy travel connections combine to create a genuinely year-round destination.

©Barbara Wood

For more property market information please take a look at our Markets Reports. These cover the overall market and the regions we cover.  Go to our Locations page for more detailed information.