Mortgages financed 71% of home purchases in Málaga province between January and August 2026, according to figures published by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE). The share matches the level recorded in 2020, though that comparison covers a full year while the 2026 figures cover only its first eight months.
The change comes as sales and borrowing move in opposite directions. There were 23,047 home sales in the province during the period, down 4.77% on the same months of 2025. Mortgage registrations, meanwhile, rose 14.3% to 16,363.
The figures point to a growing reliance on bank finance among people buying homes in the province. Mortgages accounted for 63% of transactions in 2025, compared with 37% paid for in cash, according to the supplied report. In recent years, financing and cash purchases had been closer to an even split.
Borrowers are also taking on larger loans. The average mortgage in Málaga stood at €246,700 in the first eight months of 2026, up 15.6% from €213,400 a year earlier. That was the third-highest provincial average in Spain, behind the Balearic Islands and Madrid, the report said.
The cost of borrowing has risen alongside loan sizes. The report put the average Euribor rate for October at 3.22%, compared with 2.187% in October 2025. It estimated that someone with a €240,000 mortgage taken out a year earlier would face a monthly repayment increase of more than €100 following an October rate adjustment. The actual change for an individual borrower will depend on their mortgage terms.
Málaga remains one of Spain’s busiest housing markets. It ranked fourth among provinces for mortgage registrations in the first eight months of the year, after Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. It was fifth for home sales, behind those three provinces and Alicante.
Nationally, home sales fell 2.3% in the same period while mortgage registrations increased by 5%, according to the report. Málaga’s rise in lending was therefore sharper than the national increase, even as its sales decline was also steeper.
The data offers a snapshot rather than a full-year result: both the sales and mortgage totals cover January to August. Whether the growing mortgage share continues through the end of 2026 will become clearer when later INE figures are available.