What should you check before buying a flat in Málaga?

Most Málaga flats sit in 1960s and 1970s blocks

The 2021 census counts 69,920 Málaga homes in buildings completed between 1971 and 1980, the busiest decade on record, plus 49,956 from 1961 to 1970. Counting older stock too, 54.8% of the homes whose year is known date from 1980 or earlier. Building picked up again from 2001 to 2010, with 45,736 homes, and fell to 6,349 in the following decade.

If you are buying from abroad, that age profile tells you what to ask. A 1970s block was designed before Spain's NCSE-94 seismic code (Royal Decree 2543/1994), with insulation standards far from today's, and it may contain fibre-cement downpipes, tanks or roofing that can hold asbestos. In concrete buildings close to the sea, also look at balconies, slab edges and any exposed reinforcement. None of this is assumed: these are questions for the property manager (administrador de fincas) and for a surveyor who visits the building.

Seismic hazard: 0.11 g under the NCSE-02 code

Annex 1 of Spain's seismic building code, NCSE-02 (Royal Decree 997/2002), gives Málaga a basic seismic acceleration of 0.11 g. At that level the code applies to ordinary buildings even when they have well-braced frames, because that exemption only holds below 0.08 g. And since the value falls between 0.08 g and 0.12 g, the code caps new load-bearing brick or block buildings at four storeys.

For a buyer, the design date is what matters. A large share of Málaga's housing predates both NCSE-94 and NCSE-02, so it was calculated under different seismic requirements. That does not make a building unsafe: its behaviour depends on the structure, its condition and the work done since. It is a good reason to read the latest building inspection and ask the owners' association (comunidad de propietarios) whether columns, slabs or façades have been strengthened.

Flood zones: 12 flood-risk areas in the municipality

Overlaying the municipal boundary on Spain's National Flood Zone Mapping System (SNCZI), run by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, returns 12 distinct areas of significant potential flood risk (ARPSI in Spanish) and mapped flood zones already in the 10-year return period scenario, the most frequent floods. The SNCZI also maps coastal flooding for 100 and 500 years, which deserves a separate look in a seafront city.

Flood zones somewhere in the municipality say nothing about a given flat, which may be kilometres away from them. Equally, an unmapped stretch is not proof of no risk, and the maps do not show every street that ponds in a storm. What helps is placing the entrance on the 10, 100 and 500-year layers and measuring the distance. If the purchase includes a ground floor, garage or storage room, ask the owners' association whether water has ever come in.

Radon zone I and ground movement

Appendix B of section HS 6 of Spain's Technical Building Code (CTE) places Málaga in radon zone I. New buildings there need a barrier between the ground and habitable rooms, or a ventilated air gap, to meet a reference level of 300 Bq/m³ as an indoor annual average. The zone describes the municipality, not your home: the only way to know the radon level in a flat is to measure it, and it matters most on ground floors and in rooms against the soil.

For the ground itself, the report's ground movement check reads the points that the European Copernicus EGMS service measured by satellite between 2019 and 2023 around the building, and tells you whether the area is stable or shows settlement worth asking about.

The building inspection in Málaga: a municipal bylaw

In Andalusia, Law 7/2021 on territorial sustainability (LISTA) lets each council require, by bylaw, a periodic inspection of a building's state of repair, accessibility and energy efficiency, at intervals it sets with a minimum of ten years (article 145). Málaga does so through its Municipal Bylaw on Conservation and Technical Inspection of Buildings, published in the provincial gazette on 25 November 2013.

According to the city's planning department, every listed building and every building over 50 years old in the municipality must pass it, with age taken from the construction date held by the Cadastre. The first inspection is due within 13 months after the end of the year in which the building turns 50 and is renewed every 10 years. The 2026 round accepts reports until 31 January 2027, and the council publishes the list of buildings required in each round.

The HOUSINGFAX report does not have Málaga's municipal register of the building inspection (ITE or IEE in Spanish) built in. If the seller or the property manager gives you the inspection report as a PDF, you can upload it and it is used to assess the building's condition. Ask for it before signing the deposit contract (arras): a 1960s block should already have passed one, and a 1970s block is due now or within the next few years.

Appraised values and recorded crime

The average appraised value of open-market housing in Málaga was €3,240.5 per m² in the first quarter of 2026, 13% more than a year earlier, according to the statistics bulletin of Spain's Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda. It is a municipal average: a particular flat is worth what its area, floor, orientation and condition justify.

The Ministry of the Interior's 2025 crime report records 63.81 known criminal offences per 1,000 inhabitants in the municipality, against a national average of 50.38.

How the report helps with a flat in Málaga

Enter the address and the free report shows the 22 checks on official sources: the Cadastre record with the construction year, the SNCZI flood zone with the distance to the 500-year layer, the seismic hazard at that point linked to the building's age, the radon zone, ground movement and the hours of sunlight on each façade. The essential report, at €11, shows every detail; the complete report, at €19, adds the building condition based on the inspection you upload. You get a PDF in minutes, with a one-off payment and no account.

The nota simple, the Land Registry extract your lawyer will order, tells you who owns the property; HOUSINGFAX tells you what state the building is in. With both, you reach the notary knowing what to ask.