Key facts

Source: Junta de Andalucía, 24 September 2026. Checked 25 September 2026.

What was announced

Carolina España, Andalucía’s vice-president and minister for the economy and finance, told a committee of the Andalusian Parliament that the 2027 budget will lower the general ITP rate by a quarter point. The government has committed to cutting it by another quarter point each year until it reaches 6%. This continues the 2021 reform, which replaced the old 8%, 9% and 10% bands with a flat 7%.

What it saves you

ITP is charged on the higher of the price you pay and the property’s valor de referencia from the Dirección General del Catastro. If the valor de referencia is above your price, the saving is calculated on that figure.

Who benefits, and who doesn’t

Most of our clients buy a second home on the Costa del Sol, and for them the general rate is what matters. The reduced rates of 6% and 3.5% only apply when the property becomes your habitual residence, and the price caps mostly help local first-time buyers. At €200,000 they won’t reach much of the market in La Cala de Mijas or Marbella East.

If you buy new from a developer, you pay IVA and stamp duty instead of ITP, so nothing changes for you. We explain the difference in new build vs resale on the Costa del Sol.

When it takes effect

The cut is expected from 1 January 2027 if the budget passes. ITP falls due on the date you sign the escritura at the notary, not the date you reserve or sign the private contract. A buyer completing on 20 December 2026 pays 7%. The same buyer completing on 8 January 2027 should pay 6.75%.

My advice: if your completion date is flexible around New Year, it’s worth a conversation with your lawyer. But don’t let €1,250 cost you the right property. Sellers negotiate on far bigger numbers than that.

Our take

A quarter point won’t change anyone’s decision to buy on the Costa del Sol. The direction matters more. Andalucía cut ITP to a flat 7% in 2021, and has now committed to bringing it down to 6%. For buyers it means purchase costs are heading the right way, and that is a welcome signal.

Frequently asked questions

Does the ITP cut apply to non-residents?

Yes. The general rate applies to everyone buying a resale home in Andalucía, resident or not.

Does it apply to new builds?

No. New homes bought from a developer carry 10% IVA, not ITP.

Is it law yet?

Not yet. It is in the draft 2027 budget, which must pass the Andalusian Parliament.

Will ITP keep falling?

The Junta plans to cut it by a quarter point a year, to 6% by the end of the legislature. Each step needs its own budget.

Written by Mikael Hansen, founder of Plexo Properties and GIPE member, based in Mijas. This article is general information, not tax or legal advice.

This is the pair people mix up most, because the names are so close. Both are in the municipality of Mijas, about a ten-minute drive apart, but one is on the coast and one is up in the hills. Here is how they compare, with prices from our own listings in September 2026.

La Cala de Mijas vs La Cala Golf at a glance

The names, cleared up

La Cala de Mijas is the seaside town: the pueblo, the promenade, the beaches and the shops and restaurants around the centre. La Cala Golf is a separate resort development a few minutes inland and uphill, built around three eighteen-hole courses, América, Asia and Europa, with a hotel and spa at its heart. They share the name La Cala and the same municipality, but they are not the same location, and buyers should be clear which one a listing refers to. For the resort itself, see our La Cala Golf area guide.

Character and daily life

La Cala de Mijas gives you town life at the beach: you can walk to a coffee, the market, dinner and the sand. La Cala Golf gives you a calmer, greener, more private setting, with villas and apartments looking over fairways to the sea or the mountains, but you drive for everything, including the beach. One is sociable and walkable; the other is quiet and car-based. Families who want space and a garden, and anyone who plays golf regularly, often prefer the resort. Buyers who want to step out of the door into a town prefer the coast.

Price and what you get

The medians are close, around 599,000 euro in the town and 559,000 euro at the golf, but what the money buys is different. In the town you are paying for location and walkability, often in an apartment near the sea. At La Cala Golf the same budget tends to buy more space, a newer build and a view, because land is less scarce up there. The entry point is a little higher at the resort, from around 325,000 euro against about 250,000 euro in the town, since there is less small, cheap stock up in the hills. See our property for sale in La Cala de Mijas page for the coastal market in full.

Getting around

Neither has a train, so a car helps in both, but at La Cala Golf a car is essential: the resort is inland and uphill, and the beach, the town and the shops are all a short drive away. La Cala de Mijas lets you live around its centre on foot and keep the car for trips. If you want to be able to walk to the beach and a restaurant, the town wins; if you value quiet and are happy to drive, the golf resort is no hardship.

Golf and lifestyle

This is where La Cala Golf earns its name. With three full courses, a golf academy, a hotel and a spa on site, it is one of the largest golf resorts on the coast, and living there puts a tee time minutes from your door. La Cala de Mijas has golf nearby too, but it is first a beach town. If golf is central to how you will use the home, the resort is the obvious pick; if it is occasional, the town keeps you closer to the sea.

Which should you choose?

Choose La Cala de Mijas if you want the beach, a walkable town and amenities on your doorstep, and you are happy in an apartment near the sea. Choose La Cala Golf if you want space, views, quiet and golf, and you do not mind driving down to the coast. They are close enough that many buyers view both in an afternoon, and we are happy to arrange it so you can feel the difference between the coast and the hills.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between La Cala de Mijas and La Cala Golf?

La Cala de Mijas is the coastal town with beaches and a walkable centre. La Cala Golf is a golf resort a few minutes inland and uphill, built around three courses with a hotel and spa. Same name and municipality, different location.

Is La Cala Golf more expensive than La Cala de Mijas?

The medians are close, around 559,000 euro at the golf and 599,000 euro in the town. The entry point is a little higher at the resort, from around 325,000 euro against about 250,000 euro in the town, but the same money often buys more space and a view up at the golf.

Can you walk to the beach from La Cala Golf?

No. La Cala Golf is inland and uphill, so the beach and the town are a short drive away. If walking to the sand matters to you, La Cala de Mijas town is the better fit.

Is La Cala Golf good for families?

It suits families who want space, a garden and a quiet, green setting, with golf and a resort feel. Families who want to walk to the beach, shops and restaurants tend to prefer the town.

How far is La Cala Golf from the beach?

About a ten-minute drive down to the coast at La Cala de Mijas. Both are around half an hour from Malaga airport.

For more, read our La Cala de Mijas area guide, the La Cala Golf area guide, and our guide to buying property on the Costa del Sol.

Prices are median and entry asking prices from our own listings in September 2026 and are indicative only, not a valuation of any particular property. They change with the market. Information checked 19 September 2026.

Both sit in the municipality of Mijas on the western Costa del Sol, both have blue-flag beaches and the Senda Litoral boardwalk, and both are popular with international buyers. The difference is what kind of home base you want. Here is how they compare, with prices from our own listings in September 2026.

La Cala de Mijas vs Calahonda at a glance

Price and value

Calahonda is the cheaper of the two, and by a clear margin. It has a large stock of apartments, much of it built during earlier decades, so both the median asking price and the entry point sit below La Cala de Mijas: resale starts from around 215,000 euro against about 250,000 euro in La Cala, and the median is roughly 442,000 euro against 599,000 euro. If your priority is getting the most space or the best rental yield for your money, Calahonda deserves a serious look. If you want a more polished, walkable setting and are willing to pay for it, La Cala de Mijas is the step up. See our property for sale in La Cala de Mijas page for the full breakdown.

Character and daily life

This is the real difference. La Cala de Mijas is a genuine town: a compact centre with a plaza, shops, bars and restaurants you can walk to, a promenade and the beach a few minutes away. Calahonda is a large, sprawling urbanisation built up the hillside between Marbella and Fuengirola, with several commercial centres, dozens of gated communities and pools, and a big, long-established international community, but no single old-town heart. Calahonda feels like a resort suburb; La Cala feels like a place with its own centre of gravity.

Location and getting around

Both are in Mijas Costa, roughly ten to fifteen minutes apart by car. Calahonda sits further east, closer to Marbella and Cabopino, which some buyers like for the Marbella side of the coast. La Cala de Mijas is more central between Fuengirola and Calahonda. Neither has a train, so a car is useful in both, but it matters more in Calahonda, where the urbanisation is spread across the hillside and daily life is hard without one. La Cala de Mijas at least lets you live around its centre on foot.

Beaches

Both have blue-flag beaches and access to the Senda Litoral coastal boardwalk. In La Cala de Mijas the main beach is an easy walk from the town centre. In Calahonda the beaches sit below the urbanisation, so for many homes higher up the hill the beach is a short drive or a steep walk rather than a stroll. If walking to the sand matters, La Cala has the edge.

Rentals and investment

Calahonda has one of the largest and most established rental markets on this stretch of coast, with plenty of apartment stock and steady demand from holiday and long-term renters, which makes it a favourite for investors chasing yield. La Cala de Mijas rents well too, especially in season and to golf visitors, but at higher entry prices. For value-led rental investment, Calahonda is often the stronger number; for a quality holiday home you will also use, La Cala tends to win.

Which should you choose?

Choose Calahonda if you want the lowest entry price, the widest choice of apartments, strong rental potential and an established international community, and you are happy to rely on a car. Choose La Cala de Mijas if you want a real town with a walkable centre, blue-flag beaches on your doorstep and a more upmarket feel, and the higher price is worth it to you. Many buyers compare both on one trip, and we are glad to line up viewings in each.

Frequently asked questions

Is Calahonda cheaper than La Cala de Mijas?

Yes, clearly. Across our listings the median asking price is around 442,000 euro in Calahonda versus about 599,000 euro in La Cala de Mijas, and resale in Calahonda starts from around 215,000 euro against about 250,000 euro in La Cala.

Are La Cala de Mijas and Calahonda in the same municipality?

Yes, both are in Mijas (Mijas Costa) on the western Costa del Sol. Calahonda sits further east, closer to Marbella, and La Cala de Mijas is more central between Fuengirola and Calahonda.

Which is better for holiday rentals?

Calahonda has the larger, more established rental market and lower entry prices, which suits investors chasing yield. La Cala de Mijas rents well seasonally and to golf visitors but at higher prices. The best choice depends on whether you want maximum yield or a quality home you will also use.

Do I need a car in Calahonda or La Cala de Mijas?

A car is useful in both, but more necessary in Calahonda, which is spread across the hillside. La Cala de Mijas has a walkable centre where you can manage day to day on foot.

How far apart are they?

Roughly ten to fifteen minutes by car along the coast. Both are about half an hour from Malaga airport.

For more on the town itself, read our La Cala de Mijas area guide, and for the buying process our guide to buying property on the Costa del Sol.

Prices are median and entry asking prices from our own listings in September 2026 and are indicative only, not a valuation of any particular property. They change with the market. Information checked 19 September 2026.

These two are the pair our buyers compare most often, because they are neighbours and yet feel completely different. Both are on the western Costa del Sol, both have blue-flag beaches, and both are about half an hour from Malaga airport. What separates them is scale and character. Here is how they actually differ, with prices from our own listings in September 2026.

La Cala de Mijas vs Fuengirola at a glance

Price and value

Across our listings, Fuengirola is the cheaper way in. It has far more stock (a much larger town) and a wider spread, up to seafront penthouses, so the median asking price sits a little below La Cala de Mijas. Resale starts a touch lower too, from around 225,000 euro against about 250,000 euro in La Cala de Mijas. If your budget is near that entry level, Fuengirola gives you a little more choice. La Cala de Mijas costs a touch more for a comparable home, and you are paying for a smaller, more polished setting rather than a big working town. For the full breakdown, see our property for sale in La Cala de Mijas page.

Daily life and character

Fuengirola is a real Spanish town that happens to be on the coast: a long seafront paseo, a busy centre, a zoo, weekly markets, a big expat and resident population and everything open in January as well as August. La Cala de Mijas is smaller and more seasonal in feel, built around a compact centre, a promenade and the beaches, with a resort atmosphere and golf a few minutes inland. Neither is better; they are different moods. People who find Fuengirola too busy tend to prefer La Cala, and people who find La Cala too quiet in winter tend to prefer Fuengirola.

Transport and getting around

This is the single biggest practical difference. Fuengirola is the end of the Cercanias C1 train line, so you can reach Malaga city and the airport without a car, which matters for permanent living and for rental appeal. La Cala de Mijas has buses along the coast but no train, so a car is far more useful there. If car-free living is important to you, Fuengirola wins clearly.

Beaches

Both have long, well-kept, blue-flag beaches. Fuengirola’s is one continuous stretch of promenade and sand running the length of the town, backed by restaurants and shops. La Cala de Mijas has a shorter, more village-scale seafront with the Senda Litoral boardwalk running west toward Cabopino. Fuengirola gives you more beach and more beachfront life; La Cala gives you a calmer, more scenic walk.

New-build and investment

Both areas have active new-build. Fuengirola’s larger rental market and train link make it strong for year-round letting, while La Cala de Mijas leans more toward holiday homes and quality-of-life buyers. If you are weighing new-build specifically, see our new-build in La Cala de Mijas page.

Which should you choose?

Choose Fuengirola if you want a full-size town that lives all year, a train to the city, the widest choice of apartments and the lower entry price. Choose La Cala de Mijas if you want a calmer, more upmarket base, beaches you walk to, golf on the doorstep and a more resort-like feel, and you do not mind a slightly higher price or keeping a car. Many buyers view both on the same trip; we are happy to line up viewings in each so you can feel the difference yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Is La Cala de Mijas or Fuengirola cheaper?

Fuengirola is generally cheaper. Across our listings the median asking price is around 530,000 euro in Fuengirola versus about 599,000 euro in La Cala de Mijas, and Fuengirola has more low-priced apartments.

Which is better for living without a car?

Fuengirola, clearly. It is the end of the Cercanias train line to Malaga and the airport and has a dense town centre, so you can live there without a car. La Cala de Mijas has buses but no train.

Which is quieter, La Cala de Mijas or Fuengirola?

La Cala de Mijas. It is a smaller resort village with a calmer feel, while Fuengirola is a busy, full-size town that stays lively year-round.

How far apart are they?

About ten kilometres along the coast, roughly ten to fifteen minutes by car. Both are around half an hour from Malaga airport.

Which is better for holiday rentals?

Fuengirola has the larger year-round rental market thanks to the train and town amenities. La Cala de Mijas rents well seasonally to holiday and golf visitors. The right choice depends on whether you want steady long-term lets or higher-season holiday income.

For more on the area itself, read our La Cala de Mijas area guide, and for the buying process our guide to buying property on the Costa del Sol.

Prices are median asking prices from our own listings in September 2026 and are indicative only, not a valuation of any particular property. They change with the market. Information checked 19 September 2026.

We built this map because the question comes up in almost every buyer conversation we have, and it never comes up in the way a property portal expects. Nobody asks “what is the sea view coefficient of this apartment”. They ask whether they can walk to a beach with a lifeguard, whether it is sand or pebbles, and whether their dog can come. The public data to answer that has existed for years. It just sat in a government database that nobody outside Spain has ever opened.

What the Costa del Sol beach map shows

The beach map on plexoproperties.com plots all 152 beaches in Málaga province on a single interactive map. Beaches with a 2026 Blue Flag are marked separately, so you can filter the coast by that one signal at a glance. Below the map, the same 152 beaches are listed town by town, from Algarrobo with 2 beaches to Marbella with 25.

Select any beach and you land on its own page. Each page gives the beach’s position on the map, its length in metres, its average width, the municipality it belongs to, and whether it holds a Blue Flag this season. Every beach page also links to the other beaches in the same town, so you can compare, say, the nine beaches of Mijas without leaving the section.

I want to be clear about what it does not do. It is not a review site. There are no star ratings, no photos of chiringuitos, no opinions about which beach is prettiest. That is deliberate. The map carries only what the Junta de Andalucía measures and publishes, which makes it something you can rely on rather than something you have to take our word for. Opinions we save for the area guides.

How many beaches are there on the Costa del Sol?

There are 152 beaches on the Costa del Sol, counted the way the Junta de Andalucía counts them in the Catálogo General de Playas de Andalucía. That is the whole of Málaga province’s coast, from Playa de Punta Chullera on the Manilva side to the coves of Maro east of Nerja. Here is how they divide by town.

The count surprises people in two directions. Marbella having 25 named beaches sounds like a lot until you remember its coast runs from Guadalmina past Puerto Banús, the centre, Los Monteros and Las Chapas all the way to Cabopino. Fuengirola having only 4 sounds wrong to anyone who has walked its seafront, but the register divides that long seafront into four wide beaches rather than many small ones. Fuengirola’s beaches are few and long. Nerja’s are many and short.

Which Costa del Sol beaches have a Blue Flag in 2026?

ADEAC, the Spanish body that runs the Blue Flag programme, awarded 45 Blue Flags to beaches in Málaga province for 2026, according to its official 2026 award list. Across all of Andalucía the figure is 143 beaches. The Diputación de Málaga publishes the same list by municipality.

The map marks the flagged beaches from the Junta’s open data, which in a couple of cases groups two adjoining beaches under one entry where ADEAC lists them separately, so you will see 43 flags highlighted on the map against 45 awards on paper. The beaches are the same. If a flag matters to you, the beach page tells you.

Blue Flags are worth understanding rather than just counting. The award covers water quality, lifeguard cover, accessibility, toilets and showers, and environmental management. It is renewed every year, so a beach can gain or lose one. It does not measure beauty, and some of the coast’s best swimming spots, particularly the coves east of Nerja, never apply because they have no services at all. Read a Blue Flag as “well run”, not as “best”.

In the areas where we work, the 2026 flags include Playa La Cala and Playa El Bombo in La Cala de Mijas, El Chaparral and Calahonda in Mijas Costa, and Los Monteros, El Cable and Artola-Cabopino in Marbella East.

How to use the beach map when choosing where to buy

Beach access is one of the three or four things that decide whether a Costa del Sol purchase still feels right five years on. The map lets you check it properly before a viewing rather than discovering it after. Open the beach nearest the property, look at its length and width, then look at what sits either side of it.

Length and width tell you more than you would think. Playa La Cala is 1,315 m long and about 30 m wide, which is why it absorbs an August crowd without feeling packed. Playa Artola-Cabopino in Marbella East is 1,500 m long and backed by protected dunes, so it stays quiet even in high season. Playa El Bombo, just west of La Cala, is 622 m long and around 35 m wide, a proper neighbourhood beach rather than a resort one. Those are three different lifestyles inside 20 km of coast, and the numbers show it before the photos do.

Then move from the beach to the area. Every town in the table above links to the matching Costa del Sol area guide, which covers the property stock, schools, transport and prices behind that stretch of coast. For a side by side comparison of two of the most popular choices for Scandinavian buyers, our Mijas vs Estepona article does exactly that. If you already know the area and want to see what is for sale near a given beach, the new developments map plots current projects on the same coast.

Looking for a beach outside the Costa del Sol?

Málaga province is one coast out of five in Andalucía. Our sister site, Guide to Andalucía, runs a matching map of every beach in Andalucía: 503 beaches across Huelva, Cádiz, Málaga, Granada and Almería, built from the same Junta de Andalucía register. It is the place to go when you want the Atlantic beaches of the Costa de la Luz, the quieter Costa Tropical around Almuñécar and Salobreña, or the Cabo de Gata coves in Almería.

The two maps are meant to be used together. Plexo covers the Costa del Sol in depth, with property and area guides behind every beach. Guide to Andalucía covers the whole region for travel and day trips. If you are buying in Marbella East but want a weekend on a 26 km Atlantic beach, that is where the second map earns its place. The Málaga page on Guide to Andalucía also gives a traveller’s view of the same 152 beaches this map covers.

Where the beach data comes from

Every beach on the map comes from the Catálogo General de Playas de Andalucía, the register the Junta de Andalucía maintains for its emergency and beach safety services, published as open data through the Instituto de Estadística y Cartografía de Andalucía (IECA) in the DERA spatial dataset. Blue Flag status comes from the Junta’s open data portal and is cross checked against ADEAC’s annual list. Both sources are licensed under CC BY 4.0, and the map credits them at the bottom of every page.

Because the data is official, it is also conservative. The register records what a beach is, where it is and how big it is. It does not record how busy it gets in August, whether the water is cold in May, or which chiringuito serves the best espetos. For that we have the area guides, and the plain fact that we live here and use these beaches ourselves. We refresh the Blue Flag layer each year when ADEAC publishes the new list, usually in May.

Written by Mikael Hansen, founder of Plexo Properties. Data checked 5 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions about Costa del Sol beaches

How many beaches does the Costa del Sol have?

The Costa del Sol has 152 beaches according to the Junta de Andalucía’s official beach register, spread across 14 coastal towns in Málaga province from Manilva to Nerja. Marbella has the most with 25, followed by Nerja with 24 and Benalmádena with 22.

How many Blue Flag beaches are there in Málaga province in 2026?

ADEAC awarded 45 Blue Flags to Málaga province beaches for the 2026 season. Marbella and Málaga city hold the most. The count is renewed every year, so a beach can gain or lose its flag from one season to the next.

Which beach is closest to La Cala de Mijas?

Playa La Cala is the main beach of La Cala de Mijas, 1,315 m long with an average width of about 30 m, and it holds a Blue Flag for 2026. Playa El Bombo, 622 m long, sits immediately to the west and also carries a 2026 Blue Flag.

Does the beach map show water temperature or crowd levels?

No. The map shows what the official register records: exact location, length, average width, municipality and Blue Flag status. It does not include water temperature, crowd levels, sand type or facilities, because those are not in the source data and we prefer not to publish figures we cannot verify.

Where can I find beaches in the rest of Andalucía?

The Guide to Andalucía beach map at guidetoandalucia.com/beaches covers all 503 beaches in Andalucía across Huelva, Cádiz, Málaga, Granada and Almería, using the same Junta de Andalucía data. Use it for the Costa de la Luz, Costa Tropical and Costa de Almería.

How often is the beach map updated?

The beach geography comes from the Junta de Andalucía’s register and changes rarely. The Blue Flag layer is refreshed once a year after ADEAC publishes its award list, normally in May. The current data was checked on 5 September 2026.

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How many new developments have actually launched in La Cala de Mijas since 2025?

Seven entirely new schemes came to market in La Cala de Mijas and the surrounding Mijas Costa area during 2025 and 2026: The Kove by Kronos Homes, Valley Views and Almare by Metrovacesa, 360° by Cordia, Arosa, Balance Nova, and Riviera Hill. On top of that, several existing schemes released new phases, including Solana Village phase 3, The Meadows phase 2 at La Cala Golf Resort, Royal Palms phases IV-3 and IV-4, and the second phase of Soleia Living at El Chaparral.

So no, the wave has not stopped. It has changed shape. Most of what launched in the last eighteen months came from national developers with land already in hand, and the pace of announcements from smaller local promoters has thinned out.

The Kove is the largest of them at 166 homes, unveiled in May 2025 and put on sale in late April 2026. Metrovacesa’s Almare is 48 homes from €496,000 plus IVA, launched in April 2026 on the same plot the company had previously marketed as Calma Mijas. That relaunch tells you something about how long a plot can sit between one name and the next.

What does prelaunch actually mean on the Costa del Sol?

Prelaunch has no legal definition in Spain. Developers use it for anything between “we own the land and we are testing demand” and “we have the licence and units go on sale next month”. In practice it usually means the building licence, the licencia de obras, has not been granted yet, because a developer with a licence in hand normally starts selling rather than collecting names.

Paying a reservation deposit at this stage is normal and it is not a warning sign. It is simply how you take a specific home off the market so nobody else can pick it while the paperwork catches up. You sign a reservation contract, you pay a fixed fee, and that unit is yours to convert into a purchase.

What changes at the licence is the legal machinery around your money. Under the first additional provision of Ley 38/1999 de Ordenación de la Edificación, a developer must guarantee the return of amounts paid on account “desde la obtención de la licencia de edificación”, through a seguro de caución or a bank aval, and must take those payments into a special account held separately from the developer’s own funds. Before the licence exists, that regime has not started. So asking for a bank guarantee during prelaunch is asking for a document that cannot yet be issued.

Which means the reservation contract is the document that protects you at this stage, and it is the one to read properly. What happens to your money if the licence is refused or the project does not go ahead? Who holds it, the developer or a lawyer’s client account? How long do you have before you must sign the private purchase contract, and what are the terms if you walk away then? Those answers vary a lot between developers, and they are negotiable more often than buyers assume.

Mijas does not publish a public register of granted licences. The town hall’s Licencias de Obras Mayores page carries the procedure and the forms but no list of what has been approved, and the minor works register has not been updated since 2013. So for almost every project on this coast, licence status is whatever the developer chooses to tell you. Three schemes in the Mijas area publish it voluntarily: Calahonda Sunset, Savia and Soleia Living. That is three out of several dozen.

Why buy in prelaunch at all?

Price, mostly. Prices normally go up when a project moves from prelaunch into launch, and launch normally follows the granting of the building licence, because that is the point at which the developer can start taking staged payments under the protection of a guarantee and no longer needs to price for uncertainty. Buyers who reserved before that step are holding a unit at the earlier price.

Vission Hills in La Cala de Mijas has just been through the full sequence. Buyers reserved specific homes during the prelaunch phase and paid their reservation deposits to hold them, and in August 2026 the scheme went to public launch with the sales office open on site at Calle Sierra de Mijas. The people who reserved during prelaunch kept both their home and the price they had agreed. That is the sequence working exactly as it should, and it is how a large share of the best homes in this area change hands.

It is also a good illustration of what gets bought early. Vission Hills is a gated scheme from Vía Célere built in phases: Vission Hills I is 142 apartments of one, two and three bedrooms across five buildings, Vission Hills II adds two and three bedroom apartments together with four bedroom townhouses, and Vission Hills III follows with more two and three bedroom apartments. A social club sits at the centre of it, with a residents’ lounge, a gym, a coworking space and a spa with an indoor pool looking out to the sea. Vía Célere puts the village a couple of minutes away and Málaga airport at around twenty. Every home is built to an A energy rating, and Vía Célere estimates that saves around €950 a year against an equivalent F rated home, based on a representative 95 m² dwelling. The elevated plots with the open sea views are the ones that go in prelaunch.

The second reason is choice. In a scheme that sells well, the corner units, the ground floors with the biggest gardens and the top floors with the sea views go first, and they go to the people who were on a list before the public sales launch. On a coast where Savills reports that between 30 and 50 per cent of homes in well positioned schemes sell before construction starts, the best units are frequently gone by the time a project appears on a portal.

Which is the practical argument for having someone on the inside. Prelaunch allocations are handled through the developers’ commercial partners rather than advertised, so whether you hear about a release at all depends on who you are registered with. We hold that dialogue with the developers behind the projects on this page, and our clients go on our list.

What you are trading for that is time. Licences move at their own pace, so a prelaunch reservation is a commitment made before the schedule is fixed. Two things make that comfortable: a developer with homes actually delivered in the province, and a reservation contract that spells out what happens if dates move. Both are easy to establish before you sign, and when they are in place, prelaunch is one of the better entry points on this coast.

Iris Jardinana and Magnolia Jardinana: coming soon since 2020

Iris Jardinana and Magnolia Jardinana are the last two unbuilt phases of the Jardinana scheme in La Cala de Mijas. Both have been listed as “Próximamente” by Grupo Jamsa for years, and both project pages are empty: no unit count, no typologies, no sizes, no prices, no delivery date. The pages were last modified on 3 August 2026 and still contain nothing but a contact form.

The built part of Jardinana is real and finished. Azalea completed in April 2019 with 94 homes, made up of 84 apartments and 10 townhouses. Lotus completed in September 2021 with 109 two and three bedroom apartments. Together that is 203 delivered homes, which is a decent record.

The unbuilt part has a longer history than most buyers realise. In November 2020, when Deutsche Finance International and CTH Capital bought into the scheme, the Spanish trade press named four future phases: Iris, Magnolia, Lavender and Orchid Jardinana. Lavender and Orchid have never appeared again anywhere, and the scheme’s own marketing describes four plots in total, which leaves no room for them.

Magnolia went further than an announcement. The selling agent’s page marketed it with a launch in 2021 and an active waiting list, and that page was still being maintained as recently as October 2024 with the 2021 date unchanged. Iris was described in the same copy as the fourth development, the one that would carry a beach club with a poolside restaurant.

The project website jardinana.com still says Magnolia and Iris are “being released in the near future”. That sentence was last edited on 10 February 2022. There is one more detail worth knowing. In November 2025 a graphic label reading “Launching end of 2025” was uploaded to the site’s media library. It was never attached to a page and never went live. It is the only piece of activity on that website since 2022.

The positive read on this is straightforward. Grupo Jamsa has already delivered 203 homes on this site, Azalea and Lotus are finished and lived in, and the scheme sits five to ten minutes’ walk from the town centre and the beach, with pools, gardens, a sports centre with tennis and padel, and a supermarket already built. That is about as good a position as an unbuilt plot gets in La Cala. When Iris and Magnolia do come forward, they arrive into a community that already exists rather than a construction site.

What you should not do is plan around a date, because there is not one. If you want these, the sensible move is to register with us now and be ready to act on the day the licence lands, while you carry on looking at projects that are selling today. We are in contact with the developer, we will know when it moves, and putting your name on our list costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Is Belterra Residences a prelaunch project?

No. Belterra Residences is actively selling. The project publishes 70 townhouses, individual unit prices between €595,000 and €650,000, plot and build sizes, and a completion date of 2027 on every unit listed. A project that publishes prices per house number is past prelaunch by any reasonable definition.

The product is attractive on paper: three bedroom townhouses and semi-detached homes with private plots between 122 and 277 m², a pool, gym, sauna and 24 hour security, at a price per m² that undercuts the Costa del Sol new build average of €5,725 reported by Savills. In a market where the average new apartment now passes a million euros, a townhouse with its own garden at €595,000 is a competitive position.

Two details are worth having straight before you view. The first is location. Aventus Group’s own announcement is headlined “in Marbella”, while the body of that same announcement says La Cala de Mijas, and the coordinates on the project’s map put it in Urbanización Lagar Martell in the municipality of Mijas, inland from the village. The developer’s office is in Nueva Andalucía, which explains the Marbella label. The project is in Mijas, and that is the town hall that governs your IBI and your padrón. Worth knowing before you view: this is a short drive up from the village rather than a walk, so it suits a buyer who expects to have a car.

The second is the schedule. The July 2025 announcement described two stages of 36 homes, 72 in total, with the first stage completing in Q3 2026. The project now markets 70 homes and gives every published unit a 2027 completion, so the timetable has clearly been rebased. The website publishes no construction progress, which is worth a direct question rather than an assumption either way. Ask us and we will put it to the developer and come back with the answer.

The two prelaunch projects nobody is discussing

If you want genuine prelaunch in this area, there are two more, and neither gets much attention. Taylor Wimpey has The Meadows II at La Cala Golf Resort under “New projects 2026”, at the waiting list stage rather than on sale, described as three bedroom townhouses with a communal pool and views over the resort and the Mijas valley. One Eden has new phases coming at Royal Palms Mijas including four villas, after selling out phases I to III and launching phase IV.3.

Both come from developers who have delivered on this coast recently, which is the single most useful filter you can apply to a prelaunch list. If either of those is the kind of home you are looking for, tell us now rather than waiting for an announcement. We register our clients ahead of the public release, and that is the only way the early pricing and the pick of the units are still available when the release happens.

Prelaunch status as published or announced by each developer, checked 20 August 2026. Stages change without notice, so treat any of these as a starting point for a conversation rather than a fixed position.

Why Mijas still has room to build

The reason the pipeline has not dried up is planning permission, and the numbers are unusually clear. Mijas had 1,904 homes approved by architects’ visado during 2025, second only to Málaga city at 1,950. Between them the two municipalities accounted for 42 per cent of all new homes projected across the province. Estepona came next at 1,056, then Fuengirola at 785 and Marbella at 640. Every one of the Mijas homes was free market housing, with no protected housing at all.

Province wide, 9,475 homes were visaed in 2025, up 6.4 per cent on the year before, according to the Colegio de Arquitectos de Málaga. The first quarter of 2026 came in at 3,195 homes across the province, a 36 per cent rise year on year, with close to 500 of those in Mijas.

Prices explain the appetite. Savills put the average new build price on the Costa del Sol at €5,725 per m² at the end of 2025, up 23 per cent in a year, with the average new apartment passing one million euros for the first time. Mijas Costa holds 18 per cent of the coast’s new build supply, behind Estepona at 28 per cent. Around 12,265 new homes sold during 2025 against available stock of 5,328 units, and Savills reports that between 30 and 50 per cent of homes in well positioned schemes sell off plan before construction starts. For what that has done to values in the village specifically, we track La Cala de Mijas property prices separately.

What should you ask before reserving a prelaunch home?

Five questions. We put them to the developers on your behalf, and the answers tell you how far along a project really is. They are worth knowing even if you never ask them yourself.

Where is the building licence? Granted, applied for, or still to be submitted. If it has been granted, ask for the date and the file reference, which is verifiable at the town hall. Then ask about the land itself, because a plot whose urbanisation project is still going through approval sits on a different timeline from one that is ready to build, for reasons that usually have nothing to do with the developer.

On the reservation, ask what the fee is, who holds it, and what the contract says if the licence is refused or the dates move. Ask how long you have before the private purchase contract is signed. And ask what this developer has handed over in Málaga province and when, because a delivery record is the most useful single fact you can have about a project that does not exist yet. A first time developer is not a reason to say no, it just changes which assurances are worth asking for.

Once the licence is granted and staged payments begin, those payments must go into a segregated account and be covered by a seguro de caución or a bank aval. Ask to see that documentation at the point it becomes applicable. Our buyer guide for the Costa del Sol covers how off plan purchases run from reservation to keys, we have written separately on what to consider when buying off plan here, and the cost calculator will show you the purchase costs that sit on top of the price.

Questions people ask

Are Iris Jardinana and Magnolia Jardinana on sale?

No. Both are listed as “Próximamente” by Grupo Jamsa, with no units, prices or dates published as of 20 August 2026. Magnolia was previously marketed with a launch in 2021 and a waiting list, and that launch did not happen.

Which municipality is Belterra Residences in?

Mijas. The developer’s announcement headline says Marbella, but the body of the same announcement and the coordinates on the project’s own map both place it in Urbanización Lagar Martell in the municipality of Mijas. Aventus Home’s office is in Marbella, which is where the confusion comes from.

Is it over for new projects in La Cala de Mijas?

No. Mijas had 1,904 homes approved by visado in 2025 and close to 500 more in the first quarter of 2026. Seven new schemes launched in the area during 2025 and 2026. The supply of announcements has slowed, not the supply of land.

Is buying in prelaunch cheaper?

Usually, yes. Prices normally rise when a project moves from prelaunch to launch, which normally happens once the building licence is granted, so reserving beforehand holds the earlier price. You also get first choice of units, which on a rising market is worth as much as the discount. Savills reports that 30 to 50 per cent of homes in well positioned Costa del Sol schemes sell before construction starts, so the best plots and orientations are often taken before a project ever reaches a portal.

Should I pay a deposit to hold a prelaunch unit?

Paying a reservation fee is the normal way to take a home off the market in prelaunch, and it is standard practice across the Costa del Sol. What you are signing is a reservation contract rather than a purchase, so read what it says about the fee, who holds it, the deadline for signing the private purchase contract, and what happens if the licence or the dates move. The statutory guarantee for staged payments, a seguro de caución or bank aval plus a segregated account, applies from the granting of the building licence under Ley 38/1999, so it comes into play at the next step rather than this one.

Has Vission Hills launched?

Yes. Vission Hills in La Cala de Mijas went to public launch in August 2026 and the sales office on Calle Sierra de Mijas is open. It is a gated scheme from Vía Célere built in phases, with 142 apartments of one to three bedrooms across five buildings in phase I, two and three bedroom apartments and four bedroom townhouses in phase II, and a social club with a gym, spa and coworking space. Homes were reserved during the prelaunch phase beforehand, so what is available at launch is not the full release.

How do I get on the list for a prelaunch project in La Cala de Mijas?

Through us. Prelaunch allocations on the Costa del Sol are released through the developers’ commercial partners rather than advertised, so being registered with an agency that has the dialogue is what determines whether you hear about a release in time to act on it. Tell us what you are looking for and we will put you on our list, at no cost and with no obligation, and come back to you when there is something real to look at.

How often does this page get updated?

Every 60 days, and immediately if a project’s status changes. Prelaunch information goes stale faster than any other kind, which is the whole problem this page exists to solve.

]]> https://cms.plexoproperties.com/new-build-vs-resales-on-costa-del-sol/ Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:10:30 +0000 https://cms.plexoproperties.com/?p=38275 Now and Before: Why a New-Build Home on the Costa del Sol Outperforms a Resale — Even When the Location Isn’t Perfect

Reading time: 6 minutes

There is an uncomfortable trade-off at the heart of buying property on the Costa del Sol.

The best locations — the beachfront blocks in La Cala de Mijas, the established urbanisations of Marbella East, the walkable streets behind the promenade — were built decades ago. They are, almost by definition, resale. The new developments are usually a few hundred metres further back, a little higher up the hill, or in the next valley over.

So the question most buyers eventually ask us is a fair one: is a new build worth giving up the perfect postcode?

Our honest answer, more often than not, is yes. Not because new is fashionable, but because of what happened to Spanish building regulations between the home you’re comparing it to and the one being handed over today. The gap is far wider than most buyers realise.

What actually changed: a short timeline of Spanish building rules

Most people assume construction standards improve gradually. In Spain they moved in steps — and each step left the previous generation of housing behind.

Before 1979 — no insulation requirement at all. Spain had no mandatory thermal insulation standard until NBE-CT-79. Anything built before that was designed for a mild climate, thick walls and open windows. A great deal of the older Costa del Sol stock sits here.

1979–2006 — minimal insulation, no ventilation rules. NBE-CT-79 introduced basic insulation requirements, but thermal bridges (the concrete slab edges, pillars and lintels where heat leaks straight through) were largely unaddressed, and there was no obligation to ventilate a home mechanically. This is the era of the classic Costa del Sol apartment: single glazing or early double glazing, aluminium frames without thermal break, and a bathroom extractor if you were lucky.

2006 — the Código Técnico de la Edificación (CTE). A genuine turning point. Real Decreto 314/2006 brought in energy-saving requirements (DB-HE), mandatory controlled ventilation (DB-HS3) and solar contribution for domestic hot water.

2013 — energy certificates became compulsory for any home sold or rented, making performance visible to buyers for the first time.

2019/2020 — the nZEB standard. Real Decreto 732/2019 rewrote DB-HE around nearly zero-energy buildings. Tighter envelopes, controlled air leakage, high-performance frames, low-emissivity glazing, and a renewable requirement for hot water that in practice means aerothermal heat pumps rather than gas or electric tanks.

2024/2026 — the EU takes over the direction of travel. The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU 2024/1275) had to be written into national law by 29 May 2026. From 2030, all new buildings in the EU must be zero-emission. Member States must cut average residential energy use by 16% by 2030 and 20–22% by 2035, and public subsidies for fossil-fuel boilers end in 2027.

A home completed in 2026 is built to the last of these standards. A home completed in 1998 is built to the second.

What that gap feels like from inside the apartment

Regulations are abstract. Living in the result is not.

The building envelope. Current new builds combine increased façade insulation, thermally broken window frames and low-emissivity glazing. The practical effect on the Costa del Sol is less about winter and more about August: the apartment stops behaving like a greenhouse. Interior temperature swings flatten out, the air conditioning runs shorter cycles, and rooms on the west façade stay usable in the late afternoon.

Individual aerothermal hot water. Instead of an electric immersion tank, new homes use an air-source heat pump for domestic hot water. A typical seasonal COP of 3.5–4.5 means it delivers three to four times more heat than the electricity it consumes. Against direct electric water heating, savings of 70–75% on that portion of the bill are realistic — and it is the single largest year-round energy load in a holiday apartment that isn’t heated in winter.

Controlled mechanical ventilation. This is the one buyers underestimate most. Continuous mechanical extraction from bathrooms and kitchen, with fresh air entering through bedrooms and living areas and window frames that have a micro-ventilation position, means the home breathes without you opening anything. On a coast with high humidity and closed-up apartments between visits, this is the difference between coming back to a fresh home and coming back to a musty one — and it is the main structural defence against the damp and mould that plague older Andalusian stock.

Before and now, side by side

That last row matters, and we’d rather put it on the table than bury it: a new build carries a higher tax bill at purchase. On a €400,000 home the difference is roughly €17,000. It is real money, and it is the strongest argument on the resale side.

“But you can renovate a resale to the same standard”

You can — partly. And this is where the numbers get interesting.

Bringing an older Costa del Sol apartment towards modern performance means, at minimum: external façade insulation (SATE/ETICS systems run around €50–85/m², or roughly €7,000–8,500 for a 100 m² unit), full window replacement (budget €5,000–8,000 for a typical apartment), an aerothermal hot water system (€1,100–3,200 for a dedicated unit, considerably more if you’re integrating heating), and ducting for mechanical ventilation, which usually means dropped ceilings and re-plastering. A full reforma integral in Spain currently runs €400–700/m² at medium quality and above €1,000/m² at high quality — around €44,000 for a standard 100 m² apartment at mid-range spec.

So: €50,000–€80,000 to get meaningfully closer, against roughly €17,000 in extra tax. On paper the new build still wins.

But the harder problem isn’t cost — it’s what money can’t buy:

• External insulation requires the community’s consent. You cannot insulate your own façade in isolation in most apartment blocks. If the neighbours vote no, that line item is off the table permanently.
• Thermal bridges are structural. Slab edges and pillars can be mitigated from outside, but never fully corrected from inside without losing floor area and ceiling height.
• Ventilation ducting needs routes. Older layouts often have nowhere to put them without eating into ceiling height that’s already low.
• Orientation, glazing area and ceiling height are fixed. No budget changes which way the terrace faces.

A well-renovated resale can reach a C or D. It rarely reaches an A.

The part that shows up when you sell

Roughly 90% of Spain’s housing stock carries an E, F or G energy label, and the average Spanish home is over 40 years old. Fewer than 5% of properties on the market are genuinely efficient — yet A, B and C-rated homes attract more than 21% of buyer demand.

The Bank of Spain has quantified the effect: A and B-rated homes sell for an average of 9.7% more than F and G-rated equivalents, and that premium widened from 5.7% in 2017 to 18.3% by 2022. With EU renovation targets now written into national law and the worst-performing buildings squarely in the crosshairs, the direction of that spread is not difficult to predict.

Put differently: the extra tax you pay on a new build today is being partly refunded to you by the market’s re-pricing of efficiency.

So how should you actually decide?

Choose the resale if the specific location is genuinely irreplaceable — a beachfront position, a walkable town centre, a plot that simply doesn’t exist in the new-build pipeline — and go in with a renovation budget and a survey, not optimism.

Choose the new build if you’re weighing a good location against a perfect one. Two hundred metres further from the beach buys you a home that is cheaper to run, dramatically more comfortable in August, structurally protected against damp, covered by a ten-year warranty, and positioned on the right side of an energy transition that is now legally binding across the EU.

Most of our Scandinavian and Northern European clients arrive expecting to prioritise location and leave having prioritised the home. Usually because they spent one afternoon in each.

Frequently asked questions

1. Is a new build always more expensive than a comparable resale? Per square metre, usually yes — and the tax difference in Andalucía adds roughly 4.2 percentage points (10% IVA + 1.2% AJD versus 7% ITP). But the comparison is only fair once you add the resale’s renovation costs, its higher running costs, and the discount an E/F/G rating will attract when you eventually sell. Run all four numbers, not just the headline price.

2. How much will I actually save on energy? It depends on how you use the home, but the hot water system alone typically consumes 70–75% less than a direct electric tank. Add a properly insulated envelope and reduced air-conditioning load, and buyers using a property regularly generally see running costs cut by roughly half compared with an equivalent pre-2006 apartment.

3. Can’t I just install a heat pump and new windows in a resale? You can, and you should if you buy one — expect €1,100–3,200 for an aerothermal hot water unit and €5,000–8,000 for windows in a typical apartment. What you can’t do alone is insulate the façade: that needs a community vote. Without it, you fix the symptoms and leave the envelope untouched.

4. What energy rating should I expect from each? New builds completed under the 2019/2020 nZEB rules are typically A or B. Pre-2006 Costa del Sol stock is typically E, F or G. A thorough renovation usually lands at C or D — better, but not equivalent.

5. Does a new build come with any guarantee? Yes. Under Ley 38/1999 the developer is liable for ten years on structural defects, three years on installations and habitability issues, and one year on finishes, backed by mandatory insurance. A private resale seller owes you nothing comparable.

6. Does mechanical ventilation mean noise, draughts and higher bills? No. Modern systems run continuously at very low flow rates — they’re quieter than a fridge and consume little. The airflow is designed to be imperceptible: fresh air enters slowly through bedrooms and living areas and is extracted from bathrooms and the kitchen. What you notice is the absence of stale air and the absence of mould.

7. Will EU rules force me to renovate a resale I already own? The revised EPBD sets targets at national stock level rather than obligations on individual private homeowners, and Spain had to transpose it by 29 May 2026. The realistic mechanism is financial rather than coercive: subsidies for fossil-fuel boilers end in 2027, incentives shift towards efficient homes, and buyers increasingly price the label in. The pressure arrives through your sale price, not through an inspector at the door.

Plexo Properties is a boutique agency specialising in La Cala de Mijas and Marbella East, working primarily with Scandinavian and Northern European buyers. If you’d like a side-by-side comparison of a specific new development against resale options in the same area — including running costs and projected resale positioning — get in touch.