Right now, the Costa del Sol is in a weird but interesting moment for Airbnb-style rentals.
On one side, demand just keeps coming: city-break tourists, families, golfers, digital nomads, “workation” people escaping long winters – they all still love this coast. Málaga–Costa del Sol airport keeps breaking its own passenger records and tourism in the province is at all-time highs.
On the other side, cities like Málaga have started saying “enough” to unlimited tourist flats. New licences are being frozen in many central areas, and rules have tightened a lot.
Put those two things together – strong demand + slower growth in supply – and you get a situation where, in the open areas (Marbella, Mijas, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, etc.), a well-run, legal holiday rental can actually be in a better position than a few years ago: fewer new competitors, more guests still looking for somewhere to stay. That’s why, for serious owners, you can argue that now is one of the best times in years to invest – if you do it right.
Let’s unpack what “doing it right” means, without getting lost in legal jargon.
A few years back, lots of people saw Airbnb as something casual: buy a flat, throw it online, figure out the rest later.
That’s over.
In Andalusia, you’re not really doing “Airbnb”; you’re running what the region calls a vivienda de uso turístico – a tourist home. The basic rulebook is Decreto 28/2016, updated by Decreto 31/2024. They say, in simple terms: if you rent your place to tourists for short stays and advertise it, you must:
And now we also have a national layer: a new, state-wide register for short-term rentals created by Real Decreto 1312/2024. From 1 July 2025, every tourist rental must have a national registration number (NRA), and platforms like Airbnb and Booking are legally obliged to show it and remove non-registered listings after a short deadline.
So the vibe has changed from “anyone can try this” to “if you want to play, play like a professional”.
For investors who are happy to treat it as a real business, that’s actually not bad news.
Málaga capital has gone from “airport you pass through” to a full-on city-break destination: galleries, rooftop bars, a buzzing historic centre. Naturally, everyone wanted an Airbnb there.
The city hall’s response has been to hit the brakes:
So if you already own a legally registered tourist flat in Málaga city, you’re sitting on something valuable. But if your plan is “buy in the historic centre and convert it to Airbnb”, Málaga has become one of the hardest places to start from scratch.
That’s a headache for casual would-be hosts. For investors looking at the wider Costa del Sol, it creates opportunity.
Very quickly, food becomes part of the rhythm.
Somewhere between Málaga and Marbella you have your first proper espeto – fresh sardines skewered and grilled over an open fire on the beach – and you understand why locals get emotional about it. It’s smoky and salty and so simple that if you tried to recreate it at home, it wouldn’t taste the same. The whole ritual of chiringuitos (beach bars) is like that: plastic chairs in the sand, cold beer, kids running back and forth from the water, “just a quick lunch” that mysteriously turns into a three-hour hangout.
Inside the towns you get the classic Andalusian mix: tapas bars with fried fish and boquerones, tiny places doing croquetas and tortilla that taste like somebody’s grandmother still runs the kitchen, ice-cold gazpacho in summer. But because places like Mijas and Marbella have such a big international crowd, you’re never stuck with just one thing. One street might have a Scandinavian café, an Argentine steakhouse, a Japanese place and a late-night churros bar all within a few metres.
You don’t have to pick sides: you can be the person who orders paella on Sunday, ramen on Tuesday and a full English on Saturday morning without anyone blinking.
Drive out of Málaga towards Marbella, Mijas, Benalmádena, Fuengirola and Estepona and the mood is different. They still follow the same Andalusian rules, but they haven’t copied Málaga’s full freeze.
In all these areas, the message is basically: “Yes, you can do this – as long as you do it cleanly.”
And here’s where things get interesting for occupancy.
Because Málaga city has shut the door to so much new supply, while the province overall continues to add tourists and break records, legal rentals in other open municipalities are not facing the same endless wave of new competitors.
We don’t have a single magic number for “occupancy now vs then” in every town, but it’s a very reasonable pattern – and one many owners are already noticing in practice:
in compliant, open areas, good properties are easier to keep full because there’s less uncontrolled growth around them.
Even if Andalusia and your town hall say “yes”, your community of owners still matters.
Spain’s horizontal property law was changed so that, from 2025, many communities can:
Existing, legally registered flats are generally protected, but if you’re buying, you absolutely want to know:
Choose a building that understands and accepts tourist use, and life is much easier.
If by “invest” you mean:
…then yes, you can make a strong case that right now is one of the best moments in years on the Costa del Sol:
Fewer “easy” listings + steady or rising demand = a healthier, more sustainable market for serious hosts.
And where do we come in?
All of this is exciting… and also a bit overwhelming.
That’s exactly where SunnyCoast Homes comes in.
We spend our days navigating this mix of law, local politics and real bookings. We help you:
If you’re thinking about investing in a holiday rental on the Costa del Sol, or you already own a place and want to bring it into line, we’re here to guide you through all of this – calmly, step by step – so you can enjoy the upside of this moment without getting lost in the rules.