Investment · 7 min read
Costa Blanca vs Costa del Sol 2026: Real Sale Prices Compared
18 October 2026 · Hansson & Hertzell
Costa Blanca vs Costa del Sol: registered notary sale prices town by town, 2025 airport traffic, the hotels arriving in Marbella and what it means for land.
The Costa del Sol is the more expensive coast: its top towns register about 37% more per m2 than the top of the Costa Blanca. The Costa Blanca has more land, a lower entry, the faster-growing airport and the deepest Nordic buyer base. Which is right depends on what you want to build.
Most comparisons online use asking prices from portals. Asking prices are what sellers hope for. Below are the registered sale prices from notary deeds: what buyers actually paid.
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What homes actually sell for, town by town
Notary-registered sales, all property types, euros per m2:
| Costa Blanca | EUR/m2 | Costa del Sol | EUR/m2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Javea | 3,504 | Marbella | 4,789 |
| Teulada-Moraira | 3,329 | Benahavis | 4,716 |
| Benidorm | 3,001 | Estepona | 3,514 |
| Altea | 3,000 | Malaga | 3,186 |
| Torrevieja | 2,244 | Mijas | 3,043 |
| Alicante | 2,068 |
Source: Consejo General del Notariado, Portal de la Vivienda, registered sales, fetched 17 October 2026.
Three things stand out:
- The ceiling is higher in the west. Marbella (3,909 registered sales) sits about 37% above Javea, the top of the Costa Blanca.
- Benidorm holds its own. At 3,001 per m2 it registers level with Altea and about 15% below Estepona.
- The Costa Blanca falls steeply inland. Xixona, in the hills behind Alicante, registers 559 per m2. That gap is why large estates can still be assembled behind the Costa Blanca at a fraction of coastal values.
How many people fly in
| Airport | Passengers 2025 | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Malaga-Costa del Sol | 26.76 million | +7.4% |
| Alicante-Elche | 19.95 million | +8.5% |
Source: Aena, 2025 annual traffic (provisional).
Malaga is the bigger airport. Alicante grew faster, and Aena has announced an expansion of about 1.15 billion euros to take it to at least 26 million passengers a year.
Where people want to live
In the InterNations Expat City Ranking 2024, three Spanish cities took the top three places worldwide: Valencia first, Malaga second, Alicante third. Both coasts have an international city at their centre.
Who is building hotels
The international brands are arriving on the Costa del Sol:
- W Marbella: 200 rooms, opening 2027 (Marriott);
- Melia Marbella: 191 rooms, opening 2027;
- Waldorf Astoria Marbella: about 120 rooms, a 220 million euro project, opening 2029 (Hilton; Forbes Espana).
Most new five-star supply is in Marbella east. The golf valley in the west of Marbella has none, which matters if you are looking at hotel land there.
Golf
The Costa del Sol counts 70+ golf courses, the densest concentration in Europe by the regional tourism count. The Costa Blanca and Murcia together offer fewer, but at much lower land values.
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What it means if you are buying land
- Costa del Sol: the higher price ceiling and the brand pipeline support hotel and branded-residence land, provided the planning route is clear. Land is scarce; the entitlement is the asset.
- Costa Blanca: more land, lower entry, the faster-growing airport and strong Nordic demand suit residential schemes, townhouses and estates. Watch the gap between first-line and second-line product: a scheme back from the sea does not earn first-line prices.
On either coast, land is only worth what can be built on it. That is why every plot in our development collection starts with the cadastre, the planning rules and the terrain, and why our numbers start from registered sales rather than asking prices. The steps are in our feasibility checklist; for hotel land, read what a DIC gives you.
Own land on either coast? We study it the same way.
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