Malaga tourist flat projects double in one year amid housing crisis and lack of regulation

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While the city council moves toward a General Plan amendment, the number of approved tourist accommodation projects jumped from 15 to 30 in a single year, fueling fears of gentrification and rising rent ·

Jesús Hinojosa

Málaga

Thursday, 19 February 2026, 12:52

MALAGA city council authorised 30 new tourist accommodation complexes in 2025 - double the number approved the previous year.

The surge comes despite a worsening housing crisis and growing calls from residents for stricter controls. Official data shows that 340 new holiday flats were approved last year, compared to 187 in 2024.

While a three-year moratorium currently exists for individual tourist rental apartments, it does not apply to larger complexes or lower-category hotels.

Urban planning councillor Carmen Casero admitted that investors may be "rushing" to secure approvals before new restrictions under the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) take effect.

"Our commitment is to continue taking steps," Casero said, though she warned that restricting larger projects is legally complex and could face court challenges from business group.

While hoteliers and hospitality professionals oppose restrictions, believing that demand should determine tourism, architects and urban planning experts criticise the lack of regulation.

Just in December 2025, Malaga city council approved seven tourist flat projects, almost two a week. The projects over the past year range from complexes of around 30 flats to smaller houses of three or four flats.

Although they have to meet certain criteria, there is nothing at the moment to prevent land and residential buildings from converting to adapt to tourist demand.

At a time of a housing crisis, this decreases the space available for people who live and work in the city, especially if they cannot afford growing prices.

Modification of the general urban development plan

To curb this increase, in August 2025, the city council began the process of amending the general urban development plan (PGOU) with the aim of regulating tourist dwellings of fewer than four stars.

However, this first step, which served to endorse the entry into force of a three-year moratorium on tourist rental flats, has not yet led to the regulation of flats, hostels and hotels of a lower category. The city council is yet to set a date for implementing it.

"Our commitment is to continue taking steps," urban planning councillor Carmen Casero says. According to Casero, the city council could only legally apply a moratorium to tourist rental flats, not to other types of tourist accommodation.

However, she believes that this regulation will receive approval soon, bringing quick results.

Conversely, Casero believes that restricting new tourist apartment projects and lower-category hotels is legally complex due to its impact on hotel investment. She says changes to Malaga's planning framework are progressing but must be legally robust to withstand potential court challenges from investors and business groups.

Casero acknowledges that tourist flat developments have surged, possibly because investors are rushing before future restrictions.

"We are currently in the process of regulating tourist use and we hope to see the results as soon as possible"

Councillor Carmen Casero

On the other hand, business owners in the hotel sector oppose regulating tourist use. "Restriction is not good. Demand should determine [supply], not the city council," Deputy President of the Association of Costa del Sol Hotel Business Owners Javier Hernández says.

According to Hernández, the city council should focus on controlling tourist flows, while stating that tourists staying in flats have "a smaller impact on social sustainability because they do not maintain contact with residents".

At the same time, architects and urban planners fear that the proliferation of tourist flats exacerbates the housing crisis. According to Dean of the Architects' Association Susana Gómez de Lara, tourist flats are "taking away opportunities" from residents.

"By stealing housing space, they reduce supply and contribute to increasing prices and gentrification," she says. Gómez de Lara considers the approval of a regulation "urgent". "We need to think more about the locals," she states.

President of the Teatinos district association of urban planners Vicente Seguí agrees with her. He even believes that the regulation is already late. "We are already overflowing, like the rivers, and I don't think this will be fixed in the short term," he says.