Malaga property sales drop to five-year low in January 2026 despite surge in new-build construction

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While second-hand home sales in Malaga province fell by 13 per cent, new-build transactions bucked the national trend with an 18.2 per cent increase

Cristina Vallejo

Tuesday, 24 March 2026 | Updated 26/03/2026 13:50h.

Malaga province's property market cooled down at the start of the year, although less than in Spain as a whole. In January, the province's market sold 3,044 homes, two per cent fewer than in January 2025 (3,105).

What is important to note is that two sides of the real estate market influence this rate: new construction and second-hand homes. In this sense, while the sale of second-hand homes dropped by 13 per cent compared to January 2025, with 1,746 properties, the sale of new construction grew by 18.2 per cent, to 1,298 homes.

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The fall in the number of sales in Malaga province in January was smaller than in Spain as a whole, where the decrease was five per cent (from 60,514 in January 2025 to 57,489 in 2026).

New construction explains this difference. The sale of new homes in Spain dropped by nearly four per cent year-on-year. At the same time, the national second-hand market suffered less than in Malaga province, with a drop of 5.4 per cent year-on-year.

The question is how does this past January compare to other years? In Malaga, the 3,044 house purchases hit the lowest number since January 2021, when there were 2,429 transactions. On the other hand, in Spain as a whole, 2026 had the second best January, only behind 2025.

In any case, Malaga remains the fifth province in Spain in terms of the number of property sales, behind Barcelona (6,352), Madrid (5,668), Alicante (4,309) and Valencia (3,293).

Meanwhile, Andalucía is the region that led the national ranking in January, with more than 12,125 sales (which means that one out of every four transactions that take place in the region takes place in Malaga). Furthermore, sales in Andalucía did rise compared to 2025 (+4.5 per cent), thanks to significant rises in provinces such as Cordoba and Granada.