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Territorial intelligence report Western Costa del Sol, Málaga

Land for 30–40 homes, with the plan, the licence and the buyer in view.

Prepared for
Arenvela Costa Developments, S.L.Fictitious client · sample document
Date of issue
14 October 2026
Level
Premium
Reference
RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918

Snapshot as at 14 October 2026. Three things are moving: the entry into force of Marbella’s new general plan, approved but awaiting publication in the Provincial Official Gazette (BOP); Estepona’s partial plans; and the new-build homes on sale. If more than 3–6 months have passed, review them with us before you buy land.

The short answer

Marbella Este balances your development best, if there is land. If there is not, Estepona Este: more sales, but more competition.

All three stretches can take 30–40 homes for an international buyer. What sets them apart is the land that is genuinely ready, the price new-build homes achieve and how much supply competes with yours. And your open question has an answer in the data: in this price range, the natural buyer is the one from abroad. This is our judgement, signed; every figure behind it is in its chapter, with its source and date.

ROMVILL judgementSigned by the responsible analyst · 14/10/2026

5,955€/m²

Appraised value of homes up to five years old in Marbella: 47 % more than in Estepona.

MIVAU · Q2 2026

888homes

New-build homes sold in Estepona in 2025, twice as many as in Marbella. That is where sales are today, and the competition.

MIVAU · 2025

37%

Share of home purchases in the province of Málaga made by foreigners.

Land Registrars · Q2 2026

58%

Share of the average Estepona household income that would go on the mortgage for a €450,000 home.

INE · ROMVILL calculation

Three stretches, side by side.

The same data for all three. Select a column to follow that area through the whole report: the map, the charts and the synthesis will highlight it.

Compare two areas, side by side

Estepona Oeste

From the port to the boundary with Casares

Land for a second cycle
PGOU of 1994general plan, adapted to Andalusian law in 2011
65.5 ha in the pipelineSURS-O8: partial plan with initial approval
€4,046/m²Estepona · municipal figure
888 new homesEstepona · 256 in H1 2026
1,056 endorsedEstepona · 540 more in Q1 2026
3 months by lawnegative silence · real timescale: no official figure
66 min87 km · Gibraltar 41 min away
Public hospital 4 min awayhigh-resolution · Hospital Costa del Sol 33 min
Arroyo Vaquero and woodlandflood-risk watercourse and forest interface
Land to grow intoif it can wait for a partial plan
See the area

Estepona Este

El Padrón · Cancelada · Atalaya

More sales, more competition
PGOU of 1994the same plan as A
61 ha sectorisedArroyo del Saladillo: partial plan still missing
€4,046/m²the same municipal figure as A
888 new homesmunicipal figure, as for A
1,056 endorsedand the named developments cluster here
3 months by lawnegative silence · real timescale: no official figure
57 min71 km along the coast
Private hospital 5 min awayHospital Costa del Sol 24 min
Oversupplynew-build sales falling in 2026
Quick saleswith a product that stands out
See the area

Marbella Este

Elviria · Las Chapas · Cabopino

Best balance, if there is land
PGOM approved in 2026awaiting publication in the BOP
Vacant sites with approved plansElviria IV and V, Las Dunas (16.1 ha)
€5,955/m²Marbella · municipal figure
450 new homesMarbella · 141 in H1 2026
384 endorsed BestMarbella · 35 in Q1 2026
3 months by lawplus a certifying-entity route since 2025
43 min Best46 km
Hospital Costa del Sol 7 min awayand 8 Blue Flag beaches in Marbella
Coastal law, dunes and motorwayand a plan still unpublished
High-end product, little supplyif it finds land
See the area

‘Best’ marks the best figure in each row when the areas are measured with the same yardstick. A and B share the figures that exist only by municipality: price, sales and endorsements. An appraisal is not a closing price, and ‘no official figure’ means exactly that.

01Your brief

Five firm conditions and one open question.

Before any data, we hand your brief back to you as we have understood it: it is what organises this report. And we tell you frankly what the Premium level covers and what is left for your technical and legal team.

In your words

‘Land for 30–40 homes to sell to an international buyer, with certainty on the plan and the licence.’
Product
30–40 homes
Type
Apartment blocks or terraced houses
Target price
€450,000–900,000
Buyer
International, by default
Structure
Developer and financial partner

How we have read your brief

Five conditions are firm: 30–40 homes, apartment blocks or terraced houses, a price range of €450,000 to €900,000, a financial partner at your side and the requirement for certainty on the plan, the licence, the sales rate and the competition. The open question, who to sell to, allows two readings that change the timetable, the financing and the product.

Reading ACovered here

Selling off-plan to the foreign buyer

Pre-sale with guaranteed advance payments, to a buyer who decides in one visit or remotely.

International demandAirportGuarantees under the LOEPre-sale and banking
Reading BCovered here

High-income local primary residence

A buyer who lives and works here, with a mortgage and a delivery date in mind.

Local incomeMortgageHospital and schoolsDelivery time

This report analyses both. We give you the answer the data provide in advance: given the income that households in these areas declare, your price range is above all a product for a buyer from abroad, and the European financing rules now in force allow you to replace part of the pre-sale with your partner’s capital. We show this in chapters 04, 06 and 08.

The fourteen dimensions of the Premium level

A developer does not buy an area. It buys land, a licence and a pace of sales. That is why the Premium level measures fourteen dimensions, each with its source, and cross-references them in the synthesis.

DimensionWhat we measureChapter
1 · PlanningThe plan in force, Marbella’s new plan and what the Andalusian law changed03
2 · LandSectors with land and a sample plot with its official fact sheet03 · 07
3 · MarketAppraised value of recent homes and published asking prices04
4 · AbsorptionNew-build sales by year and half-year04
5 · CompetitionHomes endorsed and developments on sale04
6 · LicencesProcedure, statutory time limit and the effect of silence05
7 · CostsConstruction tax, fees, guarantees and developer loan06
8 · Developer taxationIVA (Spanish VAT) on homes, municipal plusvalía, IBI (local property tax) and corporation tax06
9 · ConnectivityAirports and motorway, with calculated routes08
10 · ServicesHospitals, beaches and seasonality of visitors08
11 · Natural risksFlooding from streams and wildfire09
12 · Coast and waterCoastal easements and water supply07 · 09
13 · International demandPurchases by foreigners and overnight stays04 · 08
14 · Surroundings and safetyOfficial crime figures and household income08

What this report does, and what it does not

Does

  • Compares three stretches using dated official data: planning, market, licences, taxation, risks and services.
  • Studies a sample plot within a real sector, using the parameters of its official fact sheet, and tells you what to check before making an offer on it.
  • Calculates reproducible routes and links every source so that your team can open it.

Does not

  • Value land or recommend buying any property: the plot in chapter 07 is illustrative.
  • Project sales, margins or price appreciation.
  • Replace the planning certificate, the legal report, the geotechnical study or the pre-application enquiry to the town hall.

For your brief

Your development fits all three stretches. What decides it is not the stretch of coast you choose, but the land that is ready and the buyer you sell to.

Keep this in mind as you read: the synthesis gives you back both readings with their weight, in a simulator that you can adjust yourself.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §01

02The areas

Three stretches of one coast. None of them has everything.

West Estepona, with land still to be developed; east Estepona, where building and selling happen today; and east Marbella, more expensive and better connected. Mijas Costa stays as a benchmark, outside the brief.

Scroll down slowly: the map accompanies you from one stretch to the next, in relief, and stops at the sample plot.

Estepona Oeste, land for a second cycle

From Estepona port to the boundary with Casares: Arroyo Vaquero, Valle Romano, Bahía Dorada and Buenas Noches, with Sierra Bermeja behind. Here lies the municipality’s largest tract of land: the SURS-O8 ‘Arroyo Vaquero Norte II’ sector, of 65.5 hectares and up to 1,200 homes, whose partial plan (plan parcial) received initial approval from the Full Council on 12 November 202518.

A public high-resolution hospital, set up in 2020, is two kilometres away41, and Gibraltar airport is 41 minutes away; Málaga’s is 6610. It is the stretch with the most land and the least finished supply, and for that reason the one with the longest timetable.

To Málaga airport
66min
Land in the pipeline
65.5ha
Household income
39,150€

Estepona Este, where sales happen today

El Padrón, Cancelada, Atalaya and El Paraíso: the stretch between Estepona’s old town and Guadalmina. This is where the named developments we reviewed are concentrated: Metrovacesa is marketing phases here in Cancelada and Atalaya, with semi-detached houses from €775,000 plus IVA43.

Its large land bank, the Arroyo del Saladillo sectors (61 hectares and up to 1,712 homes between the two), has had its sectorisation approved since 2022 and still lacks a partial plan17. The Atalaya census section reports the highest household income of all those we consulted across the three stretches, €48,964; El Padrón’s, €41,4606.

To Málaga airport
57min
Private hospital
5min
Household income, Atalaya
48,964€

Marbella Este, the best balance if there is land

Elviria, Las Chapas and Cabopino, from Los Monteros to the boundary with Mijas. It is the best-connected stretch: the Hospital Costa del Sol is 7 minutes away and Málaga airport 4310. And the most expensive: homes up to five years old are appraised in Marbella at €5,955/m²1.

Its limit is land. The new general plan recognises three vacant sites here with approved planning that can finish their development: Elviria IV, Elviria V and Las Dunas13. The coast adds the Dunas de Artola Natural Monument, protected since 200340.

To Málaga airport
43min
To Hospital Costa del Sol
7min
Appraisal, up to 5 years old
5,955€/m²

The sample plot, in the Las Dunas sector

Between the A-7 motorway and the beach, on the boundary between Rícmar and Elviria, lies the URP-AL-6 ‘Las Dunas’ sector, with complete detailed planning approved in 202416. That is where we place the illustrative plot of chapter 07. The position of the point is approximate: the exact boundary is on the sector plan.

Mijas Costa, documented as a benchmark and not as a candidate

La Cala and Calahonda are Cabopino’s immediate neighbour and the new-build market that has moved most this year: 550 new homes sold in the first half of 2026, against 176 a year earlier2, and 1,904 homes endorsed by the architects’ college (visadas) in 20253. Its recent homes are appraised below Estepona’s, at €3,761/m²1. It falls outside your brief; we leave it here so that you can see the full map of the competition.

Marbella appraises recent homes 47 % above Estepona

Appraised value of open-market homes up to five years old · MIVAU, Q2 2026. It is an appraisal, not a closing or asking price; A and B share the Estepona figure.

Estepona · A and BC · MarbellaMijas, benchmark

Reading. In one year, the appraised value of recent homes rises by 29.2 % in Estepona, 16.0 % in Marbella and 19.6 % in Mijas, with samples of 79 to 147 appraisals a quarter: the order of magnitude, not the decimal, is what to take from it.

Source 1 · 14/10/2026

For your brief

Your three stretches do not compete on the same thing. Estepona Oeste offers land; Estepona Este, sales; Marbella Este, price and connection.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §02

03Planning and land

One plan from 1994 and another just approved. Ready land is scarce in all three stretches.

Estepona works with its general plan of 1994; Marbella has just approved the first plan to replace its 1986 one. In between, the Andalusian land law changed the rules in 2021. Here is the state of each plan, the land that exists and what it means for your timetable.

Marbella · new plan40 yearsThe gap between the 1986 plan and the new general plan (PGOM) approved on 18/09/2026. Still to be published in the BOP.
Estepona · plan in force1994PGOU of 1994, adapted to the 2002 Andalusian law, with the approval published in 2011.
Estepona · land in the pipeline127 haSURS-O8 and Arroyo del Saladillo: none has a final partial plan yet.
Marbella Este · vacant sites3Elviria IV, Elviria V and Las Dunas: sites with an approved plan that the PGOM allows to be completed.

Forty years of planning, in six dates

What governs each municipality today and how we got here.

  1. 03/06/1986

    PGOU of Marbella

    The plan that still provides the detailed planning.

  2. 27/04/1994

    PGOU of Estepona

    In force today in stretches A and B.

  3. 27–28/10/2015

    The Supreme Court annuls the 2010 plan

    Marbella goes back to the 1986 plan.

  4. 23/12/2021

    The LISTA comes into force

    Only urban and rural land.

  5. 12/11/2025

    SURS-O8, initial approval

    Partial plan in Arroyo Vaquero, Estepona.

  6. 18/09/2026

    Marbella approves its PGOM

    It comes into force on publication in the BOP.

Reading. In Estepona, the risk is not the general plan, stable since 1994, but the pace of the partial plans. In Marbella, the risk is the reverse: more certainty than in 2015–2026, but a brand-new plan.

Sources 11, 15, 17, 18 and 19 · 14/10/2026

Marbella: a new plan that does not yet fully govern

The Supreme Court annulled the 2010 revision of Marbella’s general plan in October 2015, and the municipality went back to the 1986 one15. On 18 September 2026 the Full Council gave final approval to the new PGOM, by an absolute majority11, and the notice appeared in the BOJA of 9 October12. The resolution itself provides that it comes into force the day after its rules are published in the Provincial Official Gazette; as at 14 October, the plan’s official website does not announce that publication.

And when it comes into force, the PGOM will set the structural planning. The detail of what is built on each block will remain that of the 1986 plan where its drawing O.01.2 so indicates, or that of the future POU, still under environmental assessment13.

The nuance that decides your timetableFor a specific plot of land in Marbella Este you need to know three things: whether its development planning had been approved (the PGOM keeps it in force, art. 2.3.6), which instrument gives it detailed planning and whether the plan has already been published. Publication also opens the period for challenging it, and the 2010 plan fell precisely that way.

Four sites with land, four different states

For 30–40 homes one block is enough, but that block inherits the stage of its sector. These are the sites with an official fact sheet that we have read across the three stretches161718.

SectorSite areaPlot ratioMax. homesStatus
A · SURS-O8 Arroyo Vaquero Norte II655,251 m²0.2976 m²t/m²s1,200 · 30 % protectedPartial plan, initial approval (12/11/2025)
B · SUS-E1-A Arroyo del Saladillo Este526,605 m²0.30 m²t/m²s1,477Sectorisation approved (2022); partial plan outstanding
B · SUS-E1-B Arroyo del Saladillo Oeste83,853 m²0.30 m²t/m²s235Same
C · URP-AL-6 Las Dunas161,305 m²0.281 m²t/m²s206 · min. 150 m² eachComplete planning approved (10/06/2024)

Estepona’s two sites set the ‘Mediterranean Village’ (Pueblo Mediterráneo) as their characteristic building type and reserve 30 % of the residential floorspace for protected housing. Las Dunas, by contrast, already has its detailed planning and can move on to re-parcelling and urbanisation without another plan.

From sector to licence: three steps that cannot be skipped

Ley 7/2021 (LISTA) and its regulations. Each step is an administrative file with its own approval.

  1. Detailed planning

    Partial plan or instrument of the transformation scheme. Without it there are no blocks or firm parameters.

    Developer and town hall · initial and final approval

  2. Re-parcelling and urbanisation

    Distribution of plots and charges, and works on streets and utilities. Outstanding charges travel with the plot.

    Compensation board (junta de compensación) · town hall

  3. Building licence

    Three statutory months to decide, and negative silence for new buildings. Afterwards, a self-declaration of occupation (declaración responsable).

    You · town hall

What the LISTA changed for a developer

Since 23 December 2021, Andalusia has distinguished only urban and rural land. New growth takes place through urban transformation schemes (actuaciones de transformación urbanística), and general plans split into a structural PGOM and a detailed POU19. What matters for your timetable is in the first transitional provision: land that was developable and either already planned in detail or sectorised can be developed under the plan in force, as an already delimited scheme; non-sectorised land first needs a delimitation proposal.

The law’s regulations have been in force since December 202220, and in 2025 Andalusia passed a decree-law of urgent housing measures, focused on land for protected and affordable housing, and in December its Housing Act (Ley de Vivienda)23. For your open-market product, the rule that governs is still that of each sector’s plan.

For your brief

Land ready for a licence is scarce in all three stretches. In Estepona, the large tracts still need a partial plan; in Marbella Este there is little, but with the planning done.

Before negotiating a price, the first question is what stage that land is at and who pays for what is missing.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §03

04New-build market

Estepona sells twice as many new-build homes. It also has almost three times as many endorsements.

Price, pace and competition, from official sources: the appraisals and sales by municipality from the Ministry of Housing, the endorsements from the Official College of Architects of Málaga and the purchases by foreigners recorded by the Land Registrars (Colegio de Registradores). And, as a sample, the supply that two listed developers publish.

Purchases by foreigners · Málaga37.0 %Q2 2026. In Spain, 15.98 %: the highest in the series.
New-build sold · Estepona888In 2025 (727 in 2024). First half of 2026: 256, 23 % fewer.
New-build sold · Marbella450In 2025 (377 in 2024). First half of 2026: 141, 17 % more.
Endorsed · Q1 2026540In Estepona, against 35 in Marbella: future supply is concentrated in Estepona.

What is sold, what is endorsed and what is completed

Open-market housing by municipality. Sales: Ministry of Housing (Q2 2026, provisional). Endorsed and completed: Official College of Architects of Málaga.

MunicipalityNew-build sold 20242025H1 2026Endorsed 2025Endorsed Q1 2026Completed 2025
Estepona · A and B7278882561,0565401,116
Marbella · C37745014138435563
Mijas · benchmark5953375501,904444624
Manilva · benchmark156925937893124

Reading. Marbella also had 256 protected homes endorsed in 2025 and completed 73; they do not compete with your open-market product. The sales figures are deeds: they arrive months after the off-plan sale.

Sources 2 and 3 · 14/10/2026

The pace of sales is read alongside supply

Estepona recorded 888 new-build sales in 2025, twice as many as Marbella2. But in the same year it completed 1,116 homes and had 1,056 endorsed, and in the first quarter of 2026 another 540, while its new-build sales for the half-year fell to 2563. Marbella sells less, but barely restocks: 35 homes endorsed in the quarter.

In terms of your development: in Estepona you will find a buyer, and also many sellers with the same product. In Marbella Este you will compete against little new supply, in return for having to find land.

What these figures do not sayThey are municipal: they do not separate Estepona Oeste from Estepona Este, nor one development from another. And there is no official statistic on the average time a development takes to sell: we do not publish one.

International demand, with official figures

In the second quarter of 2026, 37.01 % of the home purchases registered in the province of Málaga were made by foreigners, the second-highest share in Spain after Alicante; 2,967 new homes were sold in the province in the quarter4. Nationally, the most frequent foreign buyers were British, Dutch and German; the report does not give that breakdown for Málaga.

Tourism confirms it from another angle: in 2025, 80.5 % of hotel overnight stays in Marbella and 77.4 % of those in Estepona were by residents abroad5.

The pulse of visitors: Estepona empties more in winter

Hotel overnight stays in 2025, month by month · index, August = 100 · INE. The Estepona series applies to areas A and B.

Verified · INE

Reading. If your sales depend on the visitor, your season runs from April to October in both. In winter, Marbella keeps a quarter of August’s traffic; Estepona, less than a tenth in December.

Source 5 · 14/10/2026

The competition already on sale

A sample, not a census: what two listed developers publish on their websites. Between them they advertise in Estepona at least 24 developments or phases with homes on sale, at prices from €359,000 to €1,625,000, most of them within your price range. In Marbella, five, and AEDAS’s starts at €950,0004344.

DevelopmentDeveloperWhereFrom · asking
Serenity Gardens · 106 homesMetrovacesaEstepona€405,000 + IVA
Zenity BlauAEDAS HomesEstepona€480,000
Aire · 57 homesMetrovacesaEstepona€483,000 + IVA
Adagio · 80 homesMetrovacesaEstepona€492,000 + IVA
LibellaAEDAS HomesEstepona€620,000
South SandAEDAS HomesEstepona€795,000
Serene Atalaya F2 · 50 semi-detached housesMetrovacesaAtalaya · B€850,000 + IVA
Symphony Suites F2 · 41 homesMetrovacesaCancelada · BOn request
Medblue III · 51 homesMetrovacesaMarbella€499,000 + IVA
Soul Marbella Sunlife IIIAEDAS HomesMarbella€950,000

‘From’ prices published by each developer on 14/10/2026; they are asking prices, not closing prices. ‘+ IVA’ where the developer states it. It excludes local developers and foreign developers whose websites we did not review.

For your brief

Sales are in Estepona; the price, in Marbella. And the competition is still on the market: what is being endorsed in Estepona today will compete with your development when it reaches the market.

Foreign demand is significant in all three stretches: 37 % of the province’s purchases. The difference is in how many sellers are waiting for you.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §04

05Licences and timescales

Three months in the law, no official figure in practice. And for new buildings, silence means no.

In Andalusia, a major-works licence (licencia de obra mayor) has a statutory time limit of three months from when the documentation is complete. How long it really takes is not published by either town hall; we explain what it depends on and what shortens it.

From enquiry to occupation, in three steps

Ley 7/2021 (LISTA), its regulations and the state consolidated text of the Land Law. For a plot that is already serviced building land (solar).

  1. Planning certificate and pre-application enquiry

    What the plot allows, which sectoral reports the town hall will ask for and which charges are still outstanding.

    You · town hall

  2. Major-works licence

    Three months from complete documentation, with a technical and legal report. If there is no response, it is deemed refused.

    You · town hall

  3. Self-declaration of occupation

    With the building finished and in line with the licence, occupation is notified and checked afterwards.

    You · checks afterwards

The legal time limit and the effect of silence

The LISTA requires the licence to be decided within a maximum of three months from when the complete documentation enters the municipal register, and declares positive silence ‘except in the cases provided for in state legislation’ (art. 140.2)19. State law is one of those cases: new-build construction works require an express decision, with negative silence (art. 11.4)21. If the town hall does not respond, you do not have a licence.

Occupation of the finished building is done by self-declaration (LISTA, art. 138.1.d). If the building does not comply and the administration does not act within six months, it becomes liable to third parties acting in good faith (art. 11.5 of the state law).

What is known about real timescales: little, and we say so

We have not found any management report or published municipal statistic giving the average time to grant major-works licences in Marbella or in Estepona. We do not publish the figures that circulate in statements or in the press: there is no way to cross-check them.

What the real timescale depends onOn the documentation being submitted complete (each request for further information restarts the wait), on the prior sectoral reports that the plot requires and on the urbanisation having been formally accepted by the town hall. On a coastal plot or one next to the motorway, those reports count for more than the municipal time limit itself.

ConstraintWhen it appliesWho is involved
CoastUses within the protection easement; planning within the 500 m zone of influenceRegional government, with a report from Costas (the coastal authority)
State roadsWorks in the easement zone of the A-7 or AP-7 (25 m)Ministerio de Transportes
WatercoursesWorks in the policing zone of a stream (100 m)Andalusian water authority
HeritageSurroundings of protected assets and archaeological controlJunta de Andalucía · historic heritage

Marbella: the certifying entities route

The LISTA allows the technical report of a professional association or of a certifying urban-planning entity (entidad urbanística certificadora) to stand in for the municipal one if the ordinance provides for it (art. 140.3). Marbella regulated this in 2025: the developer may, voluntarily, submit its building or first-occupation licence application with a document-verification certificate or a technical planning-compliance report issued by one of those entities22.

It does not change the statutory time limit, but the file arrives already reviewed. In Estepona we have not found an equivalent ordinance.

For your brief

Treat the licence timescale as a risk, not as a date. What shortens it: complete documentation, sectoral reports requested in good time and, in Marbella, the certifying entities route.

The guarantee on your buyers’ advance payments is required from the licence onwards: your pre-sale calendar starts there.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §05

06Developer costs and taxation

The construction tax is level. Fees favour Marbella; plusvalía favours Estepona.

IVA on housing, construction tax, fees, plusvalía and IBI, using each town hall’s 2026 tax ordinances. And what European banking regulation now requires to finance your development, which answers part of your open question.

The rates your development will pay

2026 tax ordinances and state laws. A and B share Estepona’s ordinances.

ItemEstepona · A and BMarbella · CRule
IVA on housing10 %10 %Ley 37/1992, art. 91; including up to two garage spaces and annexes
ICIO (construction tax)4.00 % of the actual cost4 % of the execution costLey de Haciendas Locales (local finance law), art. 102: legal maximum
Building licence fee1.1 % of cost0.719 % of cost2026 tax ordinances
First-occupation fee1.1 % of cost0.308 % of cost2026 tax ordinances
Municipal plusvalía, rate20 %29 %Paid by the seller: the developer, on each sale
Urban IBI0.662 %0.65 %2026 tax ordinances
Corporation tax25 %25 %Ley 27/2014, art. 29: general rate

Reading. Commercial units that you sell alongside the homes are not annexes and are taxed at the general rate of IVA24; corporation tax is the general 25 %29. The deed of new building and horizontal division (the division into separately owned units) also pays stamp duty on documents (Actos Jurídicos Documentados, AJD), at the general Andalusian rate of 1.2 %47 on the base that the law sets for each deed: ask your adviser for the calculation.

Sources 24 to 27, 29 and 47 · 14/10/2026

For every million euros of works

The construction tax falls due when the works begin, whether or not there is a licence, and is calculated on the material execution cost, excluding IVA, professional fees and the contractor’s profit25. At the 2026 rates, every million euros of material execution budget pays €62,000 in Estepona (4 % + 1.1 % + 1.1 %)26 and €50,270 in Marbella (4 % + 0.719 % + 0.308 %)27 in tax and municipal fees.

Marbella calculates the provisional assessment using the construction values of the College of Architects of Málaga. As a reference for real budgets, the open-market apartment projects endorsed in 2025 declared €933/m² of material execution in Marbella and €760/m² in Estepona3: that is what was declared in the project, not the final cost of the works.

Plusvalía: the difference that repeats on every sale

With the municipal plusvalía (IIVTNU, the tax on the increase in value of urban land), the seller pays: you, on each of your 30–40 deeds25. On an equal taxable base, the amount due in Marbella is 45 % higher than in Estepona (29 % against 20 %). We do not quantify it: it depends on the cadastral value of each home and on the number of years since you buy the land.

Financing: pre-sale or capital, your choice

Since 4 November 2025, banks apply the European guidelines on developer lending (ADC loan): the loan uses up the bank’s capital as if it carried a 150 % weight, and falls to 100 % if one of two conditions is met30. One of them is covered by your financial partner.

Condition 1100 % instead of 150 %

Pre-sales covering half the loan

Contracts with an advance payment of at least 10 % of the price, which the buyer forfeits if they withdraw, and which add up to at least 50 % of the total amount of the loan, not of the value of the development.

Reading A of the briefSpeed of sale
Condition 2100 % instead of 150 %

Own capital of 25 %

Funds contributed by the developer of at least 25 % of the value of the completed development. It is the natural role of your financial partner.

Financial partnerLess reliance on pre-sales

An example with round numbers: with a €10 million loan, contracts worth €5 million with 10 % advance payments are enough. We do not tell you which bank will apply which price: that is for you to negotiate.

The guarantees that selling off-plan requires

If you collect advance payments, the law requires you, from the licence onwards, to guarantee their return, taxes and statutory interest included, with surety insurance or a joint-and-several bank guarantee, and to collect them in a special account kept separate from your other funds. On completion, decennial insurance covers structural damage for ten years28. These are costs of reading A: include them in your numbers before comparing with selling on completion.

For your brief

Taxation does not decide between your stretches: it evens out. What does decide is how you finance: with pre-sales that cover half the loan or with 25 % capital from your partner.

With a financial partner willing to put in that 25 %, you can choose to sell off-plan by strategy and not by obligation.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §06

07The specific plot

A sample plot in Las Dunas. It fits 36 homes, and the price pushes them to the ceiling of your range.

This is what is distinctive about the Premium level: going down from the municipality to a single plot. This one is illustrative. Its parameters are the official ones of the URP-AL-6 ‘Las Dunas’ sector, in Marbella Este, the only one of the sites studied with its complete planning approved and recognised by the new general plan.

Illustrative plot, real sectorIt is not a property for sale, we have not valued it and we do not know its owners. We chose the area of 6,000 m² ourselves so that your 30–40 homes fit; everything else comes from the sector’s official fact sheet. The point on the map is approximate: we have placed it on the planning-evolution drawing of the new PGOM14.

The sector fact sheet

In June 2024 the Andalusian regional ministry (the Consejería) approved the amendment to the 1986 plan that reorders this sector with its complete detailed planning, so that it can be carried out without another plan16, and the 2026 PGOM recognises it among the vacant sites that can finish their development (art. 2.2.8)13.

ParameterOfficial value
Sector area161,305 m², including the Las Dunas park and one community facility
Overall useResidential (minimum 51 % of the buildable floorspace); mandatory hotel use of at least 14,000 m²t
Gross plot ratio0.281 m²t/m²s · 45,364.48 m²t
HomesMaximum 206; minimum area of 150 m² per home; low density, 13 homes/ha
Zoning ordinanceFree-standing apartment blocks, B-6
Minimum plot and net plot ratio1,000 m² · 0.9089 m²t/m²s
Coverage and height25 % of the net plot · PB+4 (ground floor plus four storeys) and 17 m
SetbacksTo plot boundaries, half the height; between buildings, the height of the taller one
Building formSeveral buildings separated by gardens, mostly perpendicular to the sea, none more than 70 m long
ManagementPrivate initiative · compensation system

The sample plot, in five figures

Net plot
6,000 m² · illustrative
Maximum floorspace
5,453 m²t
Maximum coverage
1,500 m²
Height
PB+4 · 17 m
Homes
Up to 36, of 150 m² or more

The floorspace comes from multiplying the plot by the net plot ratio (6,000 × 0.9089); the 36 homes, from dividing it by the minimum area of 150 m². The real number of homes on each plot is set by the sector’s allocation, and the mandatory hotel use may take up part of the floorspace: check it in the re-parcelling.

To Hospital Costa del Sol
9min
To Málaga airport
42min
To the English International College
5min

What the numbers say, as an order of magnitude

At the average appraised value of recent homes in Marbella, €5,955/m²1, a 150 m² home is appraised at about €893,000: the ceiling of your range. Las Dunas has no room for €450,000 homes; your product here is the top end, for the international buyer. The 36 homes add up to about €32 million at that average value, and the 25 % capital that opens up bank financing would be about €8 million.

On cost, with the average budget per metre declared in Marbella’s apartment projects in 2025 (€933/m²)3, the works would come to around €5.1 million of material execution, and the tax and municipal fees about €256,000. These are orders of magnitude based on the municipality’s average data, not a valuation or a budget.

Coast

High · in the fact sheet

Front-line sector: protection easement of 100 m, or 20 m if the land was urban in 1988, and a zone of influence of at least 500 m, where the planning must avoid screens of buildings31.

What to do: boundary demarcation plan (deslinde) and a Costas certificate on the exact plot.

A-7 motorway

Medium · northern edge

Building limit line 50 m from the carriageway and an easement of 25 m; the fact sheet requires acoustic screens next to the motorway32.

What to do: measure the plot from the outer edge of the carriageway and ask for the roads authority’s report.

Dunes and fire

Medium · in the fact sheet

Plots bordering the dune systems need a self-protection plan against wildfires, and the fact sheet includes measures to preserve and give continuity to the Dunas de Marbella Ecological Reserve.

What to do: include the self-protection plan in the project from day one.

Archaeology and heritage

Medium · in the fact sheet

Archaeological control of earthworks is mandatory. The general system assigned to the sector, next to the Dunas de Artola, lies in the surroundings of the Torre Ladrones, an asset of cultural interest (bien de interés cultural).

What to do: budget for the control and its time before fixing the works schedule.

Flood risk

High · to be checked

The Real de Zaragoza stream, one of the sections with significant flood risk in this stretch34, runs according to OpenStreetMap about 50 m from the approximate point with which we locate the plot46: within the 100 m of its policing zone. We have not been able to query the viewer by point, so we do not claim that the plot is flood-prone.

What to do: check the plot in the SNCZI (the national flood-zone mapping viewer) and ask for the water authority’s report.

Livestock routes and aviation

No data · check

The fact sheet does not mention livestock routes (vías pecuarias) or aeronautical easements, and Málaga airport is 45 km away by road. That is no proof that they do not exist.

What to do: have the planning certificate say so expressly.

Flood risk, in the official viewer

The National Flood-Zone Mapping System (Sistema Nacional de Cartografía de Zonas Inundables) shows floodable zones by return period, river and coastal35. If any part of the plot falls within the policing zone of a watercourse (100 m), any works there are subject to the water authority’s conditions33. With a real property on the table, we make that query ourselves.

1

Topography and boundary demarcation

A survey with the line of the maritime-terrestrial public domain and the easements drawn on the plot.

2

Geotechnical study in sand

A dune sector calls for a study of foundations and the water table before fixing the number of basements.

3

Sector charges

Outstanding urbanisation levy, contributions to the general systems and guarantees of the compensation board.

4

Utilities

Water, sewerage and electricity with capacity for 36 homes: certificates from the utility companies and, for water, the supply allowance the plan requires.

5

Motorway acoustics

The acoustic study and screens the fact sheet requires, with their cost and authorisation.

For your brief

The sample plot passes the size test: it fits 36 homes. It passes the product test at the ceiling of your range, and the coastal test requires Costas, motorway, dunes and stream to be resolved before buying.

If your central target is homes of €450,000–600,000, this sector is not for you; if it is the upper end, it is the best documented of the three.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §07

08The end buyer

Your buyer arrives through Málaga and looks at the hospital. Marbella Este has both, at 43 and 7 minutes.

What matters to someone buying a home of €450,000 to €900,000 on this coast: airport, healthcare, schools, beach and safety. And the answer to your open question, using the income that households in each area declare.

Routes calculated from the centre of each stretch

Minutes by car without traffic · calculated route (OSRM · OpenStreetMap), not driven and not at rush hour.

Reading. From Estepona Oeste, Hospital Costa del Sol is 33 minutes away: off the scale of this chart. Gibraltar airport requires a border crossing, and the AP-7 keeps the toll on the Estepona–Guadiaro section45.

Source 10 · 14/10/2026

Healthcare: the main public hospital is in Marbella Este

The public Hospital Universitario Costa del Sol is 7 minutes from Elviria. In Estepona Oeste, the Hospital de Alta Resolución de Estepona, established in 2020 and run by the same public agency, offers specialist care, single-visit consultations and day surgery41. We have not verified whether it takes emergencies 24 hours a day: check before advertising it in your brochure.

CentreTypeFrom A · B · C
Hospital Universitario Costa del SolPublic33 · 24 · 7 min
Hospital de Alta Resolución de EsteponaPublic · high-resolution4 · 17 · 37 min
Hospiten EsteponaPrivate15 · 5 · 29 min
Quirónsalud MarbellaPrivate29 · 20 · 11 min

International schools within half an hour

Checked on OpenStreetMap; we have not verified their curriculum and we do not give it. For a family buying a primary residence, the school matters as much as the hospital.

English International CollegeEl Rosario, Marbella · from Elviria3min
Colegio Alemán Juan HoffmannCalle Velázquez, Marbella · from Elviria11min
The International School of EsteponaEl Paraíso, Estepona · from Cancelada9min
Calpe SchoolGuadalmina, San Pedro Alcántara · from Cancelada10min
Sotogrande International SchoolSan Roque, Cádiz · from Bahía Dorada25min

Beach, golf and climate

Blue Flag 2026

Marbella has 8 beaches with the award, among them Cabopino and Los Monteros, in stretch C; Mijas, 5; Manilva, 2. Estepona does not appear on the 2026–2027 list39.

Renewed every year

Golf on your doorstep

A: Estepona Golf, Valle Romano and Azata. B: El Paraíso, Atalaya, La Resina and Flamingos. C: Santa María, Greenlife, Cabopino and Marbella Golf.

Located on OpenStreetMap

Sun and rain

2,905 hours of sun and 534 mm of rain a year at Málaga Airport, the station with the nearest climate normals; the rain is concentrated from October to January38.

Normal 1981–2010, not Marbella

Crime falls in 2026 in both; Estepona had been rising

Change in total criminal offences, January–June 2026 against 2025 · Balance de Criminalidad (crime statistics) of the Ministerio del Interior.

Estepona · A and BC · MarbellaBenchmarks

Reading, without ranking areas by danger. In 2025, Estepona rose by 12.9 % and Marbella by 3.0 %9. As a rate per 1,000 inhabitants, using the 2025 municipal register (padrón), 72.1 in Estepona and 88.6 in Marbella8. There are no official figures by neighbourhood or by residential estate.

Sources 8 and 9 · 14/10/2026

The open question: foreign buyer or high-income resident?

In 2023, households in Estepona declared an average net income of €34,480, and those in Marbella, €37,606: below the Spanish average of €38,326. The highest census sections among those we consulted, Atalaya (€48,964), Los Monteros (€46,928) and Las Chapas (€44,568), are somewhat above it. And across the ten sections consulted, only between 4.6 % (Cancelada) and 21.5 % (Los Monteros) of the population have incomes above twice the median6.

With the average mortgage of July 2026, at 3.01 % over 26 years7, and financing 80 % of the price, this is the monthly payment for your price range against those incomes:

PriceMonthly payment% of average income, Estepona% of average income, Marbella% of Atalaya section
€450,000€1,66558 %53 %41 %
€600,000€2,22077 %71 %54 %
€900,000€3,330116 %106 %82 %

Reading: the high-income resident exists, but is a minority of households, and at the upper end of your range hardly ever buys with a mortgage. Your sales plan must rest on the buyer from abroad, with wealth or income that this statistic does not capture, and treat the local resident as only a fraction of your buyers.

For your brief

For your buyer, Marbella Este brings together what matters: airport, hospital and school close by. And your open question has an answer: sell to the buyer from abroad and treat the local resident as only a fraction of your buyers.

The income declared in the areas themselves does not support the upper part of your range with a mortgage.

ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §08

09The risks

No risk rules out your development. Four are decided on the plot; one, in the sales calendar.

Flooding from streams, wildfire, coastal easements, water and drought, and market risk. With dated facts and the check that each one calls for.

Flooding · risk sections25Sections of significant risk between the Arroyo Vaquero, in Estepona, and the Víbora, in Marbella.
Wildfire · 20218,187 haForest land burnt in the province of Málaga: 62.7 % of the whole of Andalusia that year.
Coast · easement100 mProtection strip measured from the shoreline; 20 m if the land was already urban in 1988.
Water · desalination plant2028Expected date for refurbishing and commissioning Marbella’s desalination plant: €39.25 million.

Flooding from streams

High · plot by plot

The Arroyo Vaquero, which gives its name to the SURS-O8 sector, and the Arroyo Enmedio, which gives its name to its neighbour, are sections of significant risk; so are the Padrón river and the Guadalmansa in Estepona, and the Real de Zaragoza and the Víbora in Marbella Este34.

Affects ABC

What to do: check the plot in the SNCZI and ask for a hydraulic report if it touches the policing zone.

Wildfire

Medium · at the interface

Sierra Bermeja closes off Estepona’s stretches to the north; in Marbella Este, it is the pine forest and the dunes that matter. The high-danger season runs from 1 June to 15 October37.

Mainly affects AB

What to do: a self-protection plan and a cleared vegetation strip, in the project and in the owners’ community.

Coastal easements

Medium · front line

They affect only land close to the sea, but there they decide: a protection easement, a 6 m public-access strip and a 500 m zone of influence where screens of buildings must be avoided31.

Matters most in C

What to do: an approved boundary demarcation and a Costas certificate before making an offer.

Water and drought

Medium · structural

Marbella’s own general plan speaks of ‘correcting the current deficits’ in the supply of the western Costa del Sol, with works planned up to 202814.

Affects ABC

What to do: a supply certificate with the allowance the plan requires, before buying.

Oversupply

High · in Estepona

540 homes endorsed in Estepona in a single quarter, with the half-year’s new-build sales 23 % below the previous year23.

Affects BA

What to do: differentiate the product and do not set prices by the neighbour’s offer.

End of the investment visa

Low · already priced in

Since 3 April 2025, buying a home no longer qualifies for a residence visa (the investment or ‘golden’ visa)42. Even so, the foreign share of purchases in Spain hit the highest of its series in the second quarter of 20264.

Matters to non-EU buyers in ABC

What to do: do not base your marketing on a residence argument.

When each thing bites, month by month

Wildfire danger (Plan INFOCA), rain (AEMET normals) and visitor numbers (INE, 2025). Point at a month to read it.

August. At their peak: wildfire danger and visitor numbers.

Sources 5, 37 and 38 · 14/10/2026

Wildfire: what is official and what is not

What is official: in 2021, 8,187 hectares of forest burnt in the province of Málaga, 62.7 % of the whole of Andalusia, with only 9 % of the year’s interventions36. It is the year of the Sierra Bermeja fire, the precedent that obliges us to look at every hillside plot in Estepona.

What we do not publish: the figures for that fire itself. We have not been able to cross-check them against an official report on the episode, and we prefer the verified provincial figure to a press-archive number.

Water: a deficit acknowledged in the plan itself

Bulk water supply (abastecimiento en alta) on the western Costa del Sol is run by the Mancomunidad (the association of municipalities) through ACOSOL. Marbella’s new plan takes on the works of the hydrological plan: the refurbishment and commissioning of Marbella’s desalination plant (€39.25 million, before 2028), the improvement of the eastern distribution branch (€33.4 million) and that of the transfer tunnel to the La Concepción reservoir; the Mijas–Fuengirola desalination plant was ruled out14. New developments are required to justify 160 litres per inhabitant per day.

Not measuredWe were not able to consult the current level of the La Concepción reservoir at its official source for this edition. We do not publish it.

For your brief · in this order

None of these risks rules out your development. All of them separate the well-chosen plot from the badly chosen one on the same street.

  1. Flood risk and watercourses for the specific plot, in the SNCZI. Mandatory in all three stretches.
  2. Coast and motorway, if the land is on the front line or next to the A-7.
  3. Water: supply certificate before buying.
  4. Oversupply, if you choose Estepona: price and product against what is already being endorsed.
ROMVILL analysis · verified in October 2026RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §09

10Synthesis

Three different fits. Rank them with your priorities.

We cross-reference the data from the previous chapters with the priorities in your brief. The scores are ROMVILL judgement, not data: change the weights and you will see your stretches reorder themselves. Two scenarios answer your open question: selling off-plan to foreigners or to the local resident.

Your priorities, your stretches

Each criterion scores from 0 to 10. You decide the weight of each; the starting ones are those of your brief.

ROMVILL judgement

    The full matrix

    The eight judgement scores, one per stretch and priority. Where a figure exists only by municipality, A and B score the same.

    Pattern 1 · cross-reading

    Land and price are not in the same place

    Estepona has land in the pipeline and sales, but also the supply that is growing fastest. Marbella Este has price, airport and hospital, and very little land. Your real decision is how hard you are willing to look for land in order to gain price.

    Pattern 2 · cross-reading

    Pre-sale is no longer the only key

    With 25 % capital from your partner, the bank can finance without half the loan in pre-sales. Selling off-plan to foreigners becomes a commercial strategy, not a condition imposed by the bank.

    Pattern 3 · cross-reading

    The plot is decided on the site plan, not at municipal level

    Streams at risk, coastal easements, the motorway building line and the water certificate set apart two plots on the same street. No municipal statistic replaces that.

    To refine this analysis down to plot level

    1

    Would your partner contribute 25 % of the value of the completed development?

    If the answer is yes, you can finance without depending on pre-sales and choose when to sell. If it is no, speed of sale carries more weight and Estepona Este rises in your ranking.

    2

    Homes of €450,000–600,000 or of €750,000–900,000?

    At 2026 appraisals, €600,000 buys about 148 m² in Estepona and about 100 m² in Marbella. Sectors such as Las Dunas, with a minimum of 150 m² per home, only admit the upper end.

    3

    Do you already have a plot of land under study?

    With a specific property, your analyst runs the SNCZI query, the boundary demarcation, the sector charges and the planning certificate, and this report is updated with them.

    ROMVILL judgement · verdict

    With your brief in front of us, Marbella Este is the one that best balances price, buyer and services, if you can get land. If you cannot, Estepona Este sells more, at the price of competing with much more supply. Estepona Oeste is land for a second cycle.

    We describe fits, not buying advice. The decision, its negotiation and its execution are yours, with your architect, your planning lawyer and your tax adviser. We guarantee no sales or appreciation of any kind and we are not paid by any seller or developer: the only party we act for is you.

    Signed: responsible analyst · ROMVILLRV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · §10

    11Before you sign

    Ten checks before buying land. Tick them off as you complete them.

    What this report cannot do for you, in the order in which it is best done. Your ticks are saved in this browser: you can come back whenever you like.

    0 of 10 done
    1. 03
    2. 07
    3. 07
    4. Viewer09
    5. 07
    6. 05
    7. 09
    8. 06
    9. 06
    10. Email

    PremiumYour analyst

    One person answers for this report. With a name and a direct line.

    The Premium level includes direct access to the analyst who signs the judgement. It is the difference between reading a report and being able to discuss it while you negotiate a piece of land.

    Access to the analyst

    In a real Premium report, this is where the assigned analyst appears, with a name, a direct phone line and a direct WhatsApp. In this sample there is no name or number: the client is fictitious.

    1. Assigned analyst: the full name of the person who answers for each figure with their signature.
    2. Direct line: a number of their own, not a switchboard.
    3. Direct WhatsApp: for the questions that come up while a piece of land is being negotiated.
    Premium level · direct accessRV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918 · Premium

    Appendix AGlossary

    The acronyms, made clear.

    The ones that the municipal technician, your planning lawyer, your notary and your bank will use. In the text, point at an underlined term to read its definition.

    LISTA · Andalusian land law
    Ley 7/2021, de 1 de diciembre, de impulso para la sostenibilidad del territorio de Andalucía. It replaced the LOUA: it distinguishes only urban and rural land, and organises growth through urban transformation schemes (actuaciones de transformación urbanística).
    LISTA regulations · Reglamento de la LISTA
    Reglamento General de la Ley 7/2021, approved by Decreto 550/2022, de 29 de noviembre. It develops the rules on plans, land management, licences and enforcement.
    LOUA · previous law
    Ley 7/2002 de Ordenación Urbanística de Andalucía, repealed by the LISTA. Many plans now in force were drafted under it or before it.
    PGOU · general plan
    Plan General de Ordenación Urbana: the instrument that classifies a municipality’s land and sets uses, densities and heights. It is the form that predates the LISTA.
    PGOM · municipal general plan
    Plan General de Ordenación Municipal, a form created by the LISTA: it sets the structural planning of the municipality (city model, general systems, rural land).
    POU · urban layout plan
    Plan de Ordenación Urbana, a form created by the LISTA: the detailed planning of urban land, the one that says what can be built on each block.
    Urban transformation scheme · actuación de transformación urbanística
    In the LISTA, the operation that turns land into city (new urbanisation) or renews it (internal reform, urban improvement). It requires its own instrument, land cessions and urbanisation before building.
    Sector and partial plan · sector y plan parcial
    The sector is the area that is urbanised in one go; the partial plan sets within it the streets, plots, uses, plot ratio and heights.
    Plot ratio · edificabilidad, m²t/m²s
    Square metres of floorspace (t, techo) that can be built per square metre of land (s, suelo). Multiplied by the area, it gives the plot’s maximum floorspace.
    Re-parcelling · reparcelación
    The project that allocates among the owners the resulting plots and the urbanisation costs of a sector. Outstanding charges travel with the plot.
    Planning certificate · cédula or certificado urbanístico
    A municipal document certifying the classification, zoning and parameters of a specific property. It is the first check before buying land.
    Self-declaration · declaración responsable
    A notification with which certain acts begin (in Andalusia, among others, the occupation of a building with a licence) under the declarant’s own responsibility and with checks afterwards.
    Negative silence · silencio negativo
    If the administration does not decide within the time limit, the application is deemed refused. It is the state rule for new-build works: the statutory time limit does not guarantee the licence.
    ICIO
    Tax on Constructions, Installations and Works (Impuesto sobre Construcciones, Instalaciones y Obras). The town hall levies it on the material execution budget, with a legal maximum rate of 4 %.
    PEM · material execution budget
    The cost of the works according to the project, excluding overheads, industrial profit and taxes. It is the base for the ICIO and for many fees.
    IIVTNU · municipal plusvalía
    Tax on the Increase in Value of Urban Land (Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana). On each sale it is paid by the seller: the developer, on the sale of each home.
    AJD
    Stamp duty on legal documents (Impuesto sobre Actos Jurídicos Documentados), graduated rate. It taxes, among other things, the new-build and horizontal-division deed and the first sale of a home with IVA.
    ITP
    Property transfer tax (Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales Onerosas). It taxes, among other things, the purchase of land from a private individual who is not acting as a business.
    LOE
    Ley 38/1999 de Ordenación de la Edificación, the building regulation law. It requires the developer to guarantee the amounts paid in advance and to take out the decennial insurance.
    ADC loan · acquisition, development and construction
    The name that European banking regulation (CRR3) gives to the loan to a developer. Its capital cost depends on pre-sales or on the capital contributed; the EBA guidelines that specify those conditions have applied since November 2025.
    Maritime-terrestrial public domain · dominio público marítimo-terrestre
    The strip of coast that belongs to everyone (beach, dunes, wave zone). It is fixed by demarcation (deslinde) and cannot be built on.
    Protection easement · servidumbre de protección
    A strip 100 metres inland from the boundary of the public domain (20 metres on land that was already urban in 1988) in which residential uses are prohibited.
    Public water domain · dominio público hidráulico
    The beds of rivers and streams and their banks. With a 5-metre easement zone and a 100-metre policing zone, where building works require authorisation.
    SNCZI
    National Flood-Zone Mapping System (Sistema Nacional de Cartografía de Zonas Inundables) of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica: the official viewer of flood zones by return period.
    ARPSI
    Area of Significant Potential Flood Risk (Área de Riesgo Potencial Significativo de Inundación): the river or coastal sections that the risk-management plan identifies as priorities.
    Livestock route · vía pecuaria
    An old drovers’ road, part of the regional public domain. If it crosses a property, that strip cannot be built on and its course is respected.
    Plan INFOCA
    The Andalusian wildfire emergency plan. It sets the high-danger season, from 1 June to 15 October.
    Urban-forest interface · interfaz urbano-forestal
    The strip where houses meet the woodland. It gives the landscape and requires a self-protection plan and a cleared vegetation strip against fire.
    ADRH · household income
    Household Income Distribution Atlas (Atlas de Distribución de Renta de los Hogares) of the INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística): average income by municipality, district and census section, based on tax data.
    MIVAU
    Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana): it publishes, among other statistics, the appraised value of housing and sales by municipality.
    ERI
    Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria of the Land Registrars’ association (Colegio de Registradores): registered sales, with the weight of foreign buyers by province.
    OSRM
    Open Source Routing Machine: an open-source route engine on OpenStreetMap. It gives car times without traffic: they are benchmarks, not rush-hour journeys.

    Appendix BMethod and sources

    47 sources cited, 42 official. And 16 figures we looked for and do not publish.

    We prefer an honest gap to a doubtful figure. This is what went into the report, what was left out and why.

    Official sources42Gazettes, ministries, INE, town halls, courts, the European banking authority and the official Blue Flag list, all linked.
    Cross-checked sources5Calculated routes, open mapping, the danger seasons from a municipal plan and developers’ websites.
    Figures discarded16Real licence timescales, reservoir level, figures for the 2021 fire and others with no official source.
    01

    Reading the brief

    Your questionnaire becomes an explicit perimeter: fourteen dimensions, two readings and what is left out.

    02

    Official, dated sources

    Each figure is taken from its primary source and stamped with the date it was consulted.

    03

    Reproducible calculation

    Routes are calculated with OSRM and the series are read from the INE and Ministry databases: anyone can repeat them.

    04

    Judgement, in writing

    The synthesis is signed as ROMVILL judgement: professional opinion, distinguishable from the figure.

    The human work behind every page

    Every published figure has been located, cross-checked and dated by ROMVILL’s analysis team. Technology is used for what it is, a tool for searching, reading and calculating: the decision about what is published, what is discarded and with what caution always rests with a person, who answers for it with their name and with the seal of this report.

    Sources cited

      Verified by ROMVILL

      Document issued with its report reference. Scan the code or check the reference at romvill.com/verificar.

      RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918

      romvill.com/verificar

      About this document. Sample document: ROMVILL has prepared it for a fictitious client, Arenvela Costa Developments, S.L., an invented name unrelated to any real company, with real data for the area at the date of issue, 14 October 2026. It is a descriptive report prepared from public information, verified and dated by ROMVILL’s analysis team. ROMVILL is not an estate agency: we do not sell property or land, we do not charge commissions and nobody pays us to speak well or ill of an area, a developer or a development; the developments cited are examples of published supply, not recommendations. The plot in chapter 07 is illustrative: its parameters are the sector’s official ones, but it is not a property for sale and has not been valued. This document is not a recommendation to buy, nor investment, tax, legal or technical advice; the sections on licences, taxation and financing describe a general framework that you must confirm with your adviser, your lawyer and the town hall. Every price cited states whether it is an appraised, asking or transaction price. Reference RV-2026-SMPL-MRB-3918.