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Date Published: 28/03/2025

Malaga to freeze new tourist accommodation for three years

City-wide ban to be approved soon as officials tackle housing concerns

Málaga is set to introduce a city-wide ban on new tourist accommodation listings for the next three years. Mayor Francisco de la Torre has announced that the Local Government Board will soon approve this move, hoping to slow down the fast rise in holiday rentals all over the city.

Unlike previous restrictions that focused on specific overcrowded areas, this moratorium will apply everywhere in Malaga. It forms part of a wider effort find a balance between tourism and the city's housing needs.

The measure is expected to be approved within the next two weeks. If it is not passed in an extraordinary meeting, it could be confirmed as early as this Friday or the following one.

A step towards sustainable tourism and housing

Alongside this temporary freeze, the city will launch a detailed review of Malaga’s General Plan (PGOU). The aim is to assess how tourism and housing can better coexist in the long term.

"This study will go hand in hand with the moratorium," said De la Torre, emphasising that Urban Planning has been working on this issue for some time.

The review will look at potential zoning rules—identifying where hotels, tourist apartments and residential housing should be located. The mayor has also ordered an updated statistical study on how holiday rentals have been impacting Malaga, building on an earlier report that looked into their effects on the housing market.

Although this is the first formal moratorium, Malaga City Council has already introduced several measures to control tourist accommodation. These have included requiring independent access for holiday rentals and tagging 43 neighbourhoods as "overcrowded" with short-term rentals.

The new freeze is made possible by a recent decree from the Andalusian Regional Government, which allows councils to temporarily suspend new licences while they develop updated urban planning policies. Under Article 6 of this decree, city councils must justify why such a measure is necessary and ensure that tourism and residential needs remain compatible.

With the moratorium in place, Malaga hopes to take a more measured approach to tourism growth while addressing housing concerns for local residents.

Image: Martijn Vonk/Pexels

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