Malaga approves 100 tourist flats

Málaga’s urban planning authority said on May 14 it had granted 105 new tourist-apartment licences, even though the city has had a moratorium on new tourist flats in force since August 2025. The approvals were disclosed at a meeting of the Gerencia Municipal de Urbanismo, according to local reports. The city’s suspension covers new *viviendas de uso turístico* — tourist-use dwellings registered unit by unit — but not whole buildings licensed as tourist apartments under a different planning category. That distinction has allowed new projects to move ahead while Málaga rewrites its planning rules. ### How did Málaga approve tourist accommodation during a moratorium? The Ayuntamiento de Málaga said on August 22, 2025 that it was suspending new *viviendas de uso turístico* across the municipality for up to three years, using article 6 of Andalusia’s Decree-Law 1/2025. The city said the suspension would remain in place until a modification of the PGOU planning framework was approved, or for a maximum of three years if that came later. (laopiniondemalaga.es) The same municipal statements drew a narrower line than a blanket ban. Málaga said “the residential use of a dwelling” would no longer, by itself, permit that home to be used as tourist accommodation, and asked the Andalusian regional government to block new entries in the tourist-housing registry. The wording targeted individual homes registered as tourist-use dwellings, not hotel-style or apartment-building projects. (malaga.eu) La Opinión de Málaga reported on May 14 that the four main new projects were processed as buildings of tourist apartments, which remain outside the moratorium. The paper said those complexes are treated as hotel activity rather than as individual tourist homes. ### Where are the newly approved units? La Opinión de Málaga said 81 of the newly licensed units are planned in a single building on Calle Paul Dukas. (malaga.eu) The same report listed another six units on Calle Emilio de la Cerda, nine on Calle Capuchinos and six on Calle Regimiento. The Olive Press, citing Málaga’s urban planning council, reported on May 16 that another project on Calle Beatas involved converting existing residential and commercial space into four more tourist apartments. (laopiniondemalaga.es) Taken together, local reports put the total at 105 licences, with 100 of them concentrated in four buildings and the remainder tied to the Beatas conversion. ### Why is the distinction between tourist flats and tourist apartments important? Málaga’s own planning roadmap has focused in stages on *viviendas de uso turístico*. The city first tightened rules in June 2024 by requiring independent access and services, then expanded restrictions in January 2025 in 43 neighbourhoods where tourist housing exceeded 8% of the residential stock, according to municipal statements. (theolivepress.es) The May 14 licensing decision showed that a separate accommodation format can still advance while those restrictions remain in place. La Opinión de Málaga said the approvals reopened debate because the city continues to authorize full apartment-tourist buildings even as it blocks new individual tourist homes. ### What else was approved at the same time? (malaga.eu) La Opinión de Málaga said the urban planning authority also reported 49 permits to convert commercial premises into housing. The Olive Press carried the same figure and said the approvals were reshaping the city’s property market beyond the tourist-apartment projects themselves. Carmen Casero, Málaga’s councillor for urban planning, said the city was working on additional measures to limit conversions of commercial premises into housing, according to a May 15 report by La Opinión. (laopiniondemalaga.es) Casero said the city was trying to balance tourism, which she described as generating “employment and wealth,” with preservation of residential use. ### Who is pushing back? Con Málaga, an opposition municipal group, said on May 5 that the number of tourist apartments in Málaga had risen 152% since 2017. Toni Morillas, the group’s deputy spokesperson, said the expansion was reducing long-term rental supply and pushing up prices, according to La Opinión. Those claims are political criticism, not the city’s own assessment. (laopiniondemalaga.es) But they have become part of the pressure around the PGOU rewrite, which municipal officials began in August 2025 to redefine residential and tourist uses across the city. ### What happens next in Málaga? August 22, 2028 is the outer limit of the current suspension if Málaga does not approve its planning amendment sooner, based on the city’s August 2025 notice. (laopiniondemalaga.es) Until then, the key test is whether the PGOU revision closes or preserves the distinction that has allowed whole tourist-apartment buildings to be licensed. Málaga’s urban planning department is also preparing new rules on conversions of commercial premises into housing, according to Casero’s May 15 comments. (malaga.eu) Those two tracks — the PGOU amendment and the local-conversion rules — are the next named steps to watch. (laopiniondemalaga.es)