Marbella remained the busiest property market on the Costa del Sol in 2025, a study has found.

The tourist mecca sold more home sales than Estepona, Mijas or Fuengirola despite signs that its red-hot market is beginning to cool amid an annual average price rise of over 20%.

A total of 4,407 homes changed hands in Marbella last year, according to Tinsa by Accumin’s Vivienda en Costa 2026 report.

That put the luxury resort comfortably ahead of Estepona, with 3,475 transactions, Mijas with 3,197 and Fuengirola with 2,172.

However, Marbella’s total represented a 7.1% fall compared with 2024, suggesting that soaring prices may finally be putting the brakes on demand.

The average property value in Marbella reached €3,641 per square metre during the first quarter of 2026, a staggering 20.5% increase in just one year.

Nominal prices are now almost 30% above the highs reached during Spain’s previous property bubble, although when inflation is taken into account they remain 9.1% below the historic peak.

The consequences for ordinary residents are increasingly severe.

Tinsa estimates that an average Marbella household would now need to devote 63% of its disposable income to buying a home, compared with an already eye-watering 57% average across Malaga’s coastal municipalities.

Cristina Arias, director of Tinsa by Accumin’s research service, said a ‘shortage of supply’ was continuing to push prices higher and making housing increasingly inaccessible to people earning average local salaries.

She also pointed to the powerful influence of the holiday-home market, while warning that previously ‘robust’ demand was beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

One particularly striking sign of a slowdown in Marbella is the collapse in new construction approvals.

Just 449 new homes were approved during 2025, down 44.2% year-on-year.

That contrasts sharply with Mijas, which has emerged as the Costa del Sol’s new-build powerhouse.

The municipality recorded 1,670 new-build approvals, up 104.4% in a year. Nevertheless, sales there fell 15.9% to 3,197 transactions.

Mijas prices still increased 11.1% to €2,707 per square metre, while the average household needs to devote around 55% of its disposable income to purchasing a property.

Estepona showed almost the reverse pattern.

New-build approvals fell 18.9% to 1,278, but property transactions jumped 9.9% to 3,475.

Average prices also surged 17.9% to €3,008 per square metre, with the affordability burden similarly standing at around 55% of household disposable income.

Across Malaga’s coastal municipalities excluding the provincial capital, there were 22,909 property transactions in 2025, down 4.3%, while new-build approvals rose 20% to 6,163.

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.