Costa Tropical property prices in 2026: the numbers

Asking prices on the Costa Tropical kept rising into autumn 2026, though not at the same pace in every town. Here are the October figures for the places buyers ask us about most, set beside Marbella, Málaga city and the wider averages, each with its date and source.

What the asking prices say

Fotocasa's index for October 2026 puts Almuñécar at 3,444 €/m², up 14.2% on a year earlier. Salobreña is at 2,526 €/m² (+10.5%) and Motril at 1,812 €/m² (+14.7%). Over the provincial border on the Málaga side, Nerja is at 3,980 €/m² (+14.0%) and Torrox at 3,319 €/m² (+16.0%).

The Costa Tropical is not one market, and that is the first thing we tell people who ask. Almuñécar sits well above its neighbours, and Motril is the cheapest of the group: the same money buys almost twice the floor space there. The percentage rises are high everywhere, but a rise from a low base is not the same as a rise from a high one, so look at the euro figures as well as the percentages.

If you prefer a grid, here are the same figures with the change over the year.

All figures October 2026. Source: Fotocasa Índice Inmobiliario, Granada and Málaga province pages.

Two cautions before you read too much into any one number. Asking prices are what sellers put on the listing, not what buyers pay. Fotocasa also repeats the provincial figure for many small municipalities, so take a town figure as a guide, not a valuation. The province average pulls in inland and rural villages, where prices are far lower than on the coast, which is why Granada province sits so far below Almuñécar.

Tinsa works from bank appraisals and gives lower levels: 1,556 €/m² for Granada province and 3,004 €/m² for Málaga city in the third quarter of 2026, up 13.9% and 13.8% in a year.

How the coast compares with the west

Marbella is the most expensive town in the set at 5,060 €/m², but its rise over the year, +4.8%, is about a third of what the eastern coast saw. Málaga city is at 3,903 €/m² (+4.6%) and Granada city at 2,755 €/m² (+4.5%). Put simply, the gap between the western Costa del Sol and the Costa Tropical is still wide, and it is closing.

The same money buys almost twice the floor space in Motril as in Almuñécar.

Zoom out to Spain as a whole and the picture shifts a little. idealista puts used homes for sale in Spain at 2,955 €/m² in October 2026, up 11.2% in a year and a record for its series, with Málaga province at 4,322 €/m². Fotocasa's national average for second-hand homes is 3,158 €/m² (+13.2%). The two indices use different methods, so their figures will not match, and neither is wrong.

Who is buying

The Colegio de Registradores counted foreign buyers in 16.05% of home purchases in Spain in the third quarter of 2026: more than 26,300 of 164,148 sales. In Málaga province the share was 38.8%. Granada province does not have a comparable 2026 figure yet.

What has changed for foreign buyers

Buying a home no longer brings a residence right on its own. The investor residence route, the so-called golden visa, has ended. Organic Law 1/2025 was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 3 January 2025 and came into force on 3 April 2025. Applications filed before that date are handled under the old rules.

The holiday-let rules have moved twice, so keep an eye on them. Royal Decree 1312/2024 created a single national registration number for short-term lets, with obligations from 1 July 2025. On 21 May 2026 the Supreme Court, in judgment 620/2026, annulled the national registry, while keeping the digital one-stop window and the platforms' data-sharing duties. Andalusia's own tourist-housing register still applies.

Mortgage rates

The latest 12-month Euribor figure in our sources is 2.956%, from 27 August 2026. Check the current figure before you plan a repayment, and run the mortgage calculator with the rate your bank actually quotes rather than the published index.