This is the Estepona property market report Q3 2024, our archived edition covering the third quarter of 2024. It formed part of our quarterly analysis of the Estepona residential market, compiled from official Spanish registry and notarial data.

For the current quarter, see the latest Estepona property market report. Reading consecutive editions shows direction, which is more useful than any single quarter alone.

The Only Market Above Its Peak

Estepona recorded 1,050 transactions in the third quarter of 2024, up 6 per cent year on year and, most significantly, 3 per cent above its 2022 peak. It was the only one of the three Golden Triangle municipalities to have fully recovered from the post pandemic correction.

The contrast with its neighbours is the whole story of this quarter. Marbella recorded 1,400 transactions, up 10 per cent year on year but still 16 per cent below its 2022 peak. Benahavís recorded 350, down 19.9 per cent year on year and 37.5 per cent below its peak. The Estepona property market report Q3 2024 captures the moment Estepona’s structural advantage first became unmistakable.

Supply as the Deciding Factor

All three municipalities faced similar demand conditions in 2024.

Only Estepona could deliver new product at scale, and buyers absorbed it.

That structural advantage has persisted through every quarter since and remains the clearest difference within the Golden Triangle.

Sales Volume and Price Trends

The 1,050 figure sat behind Marbella’s 1,400 in absolute terms, which is unsurprising given Marbella is the larger and more established market. The meaningful comparison is against each municipality’s own history, and on that measure Estepona was the only one making new ground.

Prices in Estepona had risen but remained significantly below Marbella, particularly for comparable properties with similar features such as beach proximity or golf access. That price difference was the engine of the volume growth, making Estepona an attractive alternative for both domestic and foreign buyers seeking better value.

Why Estepona Recovered First

The explanation is supply, and it is worth being precise about why. Marbella was constrained by land scarcity and planning bottlenecks, so however strong demand became, the market could not deliver more completed homes to satisfy it. Benahavís was constrained by deliberate low density and very high land costs.

Estepona had a more generous supply of land available for residential development, which had attracted significant investment. When demand recovered across the region, Estepona was the only municipality positioned to convert that demand into completed transactions at scale.

Development Opportunities

Estepona presented the most significant development opportunities of the three municipalities by a clear margin. The municipality recorded a 14.8 per cent increase in the number of new developments year on year, with large scale projects underway in both beachfront and inland locations.

This was not incidental growth. It reflected deliberate positioning: available land, a pro development municipal stance and comparatively efficient permitting combined to make Estepona the natural destination for developer capital on this stretch of coast.

Resort Style Development

Beyond conventional residential projects, Estepona was becoming a popular location for resort style developments catering to retirees and second home buyers seeking luxury at more competitive price points than Marbella.

Building for a Different Buyer

Developers responded to demand by creating communities with full service amenities including spas, gyms and golf.

The proposition was Marbella quality of life at a materially lower entry price.

That formula proved durable, and the same product type continues to dominate the pipeline today.

The significance for later quarters is that these projects had long delivery timetables. The developments launched around this period are precisely those that completed through 2025, producing the transaction spikes that characterised that year.

Buyer Demographics

Foreign buyers drove a significant portion of transactions across all three municipalities, motivated by lifestyle, the year round climate and the region’s standing as an international hub. Many also viewed the Costa del Sol as a stable investment destination during a period of broader economic uncertainty.

German buyers, at around 7 per cent of foreign transactions, were increasingly drawn specifically to Estepona, both for affordability relative to Marbella and for the availability of newer developments. British buyers remained the largest single foreign group across the region at 10 per cent of all transactions, concentrated more heavily in Marbella’s luxury segment.

Eastern European buyers, particularly from Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, had become a growing segment across Marbella and Estepona over the preceding two years, representing around 4 per cent of foreign transactions.

The Affordability Argument

One of the key factors driving Estepona’s appeal was affordability relative to Marbella. While Estepona prices had increased, they remained significantly lower, especially when comparing properties with similar characteristics.

It is worth being clear about what this does and does not mean. Estepona was not a cheap market in absolute terms, and it was appreciating. It was a market where a given budget bought materially more, which is a different and more durable proposition than simply being inexpensive.

The Projections Made at the Time

The value of an archived edition is that its forecasts can be checked. This one projected that Estepona’s market would continue to grow as more developments completed and more international buyers sought affordable luxury, and that the rapid increase in new construction alongside sustained coastal demand made it a key area for investors.

That projection was correct. Estepona’s annual transactions rose from 3,163 in 2024 to 3,466 in 2025, and the development pipeline expanded to approximately 2,770 apartments across around 50 active schemes, the largest on the Costa del Sol.

The parallel projections for its neighbours also held. Marbella was expected to see continued price appreciation constrained by limited supply in premium areas rather than a return to 2022 transaction volumes, and that is what happened. Benahavís was expected to remain a niche high value market with lower volumes, which it has.

What the edition did not anticipate was the scale of the volatility that the delivery cycle would introduce. The swing from 1,073 transactions in Q4 2025 to 598 in Q1 2026 was a function of completion timing rather than demand, and it is a pattern that has become more pronounced as the pipeline has grown.

What Q3 2024 Meant for Buyers and Sellers

For buyers

With hindsight, Q3 2024 was among the best entry points of the cycle in Estepona. The market had recovered its 2022 peak but the extraordinary growth of 2025 had not yet occurred, and the development pipeline meant genuine choice was available.

For sellers

Conditions were improving and volumes were above the previous peak, but pricing power was not yet at the level it reached through 2025. Sellers who held into the following year encountered materially stronger conditions.

What Q3 2024 Told Us With Hindsight

This is the earliest Estepona edition we have digitised, and it is valuable precisely because it predates the surge. It shows the structural advantage already in place and already visible in the data, a full two quarters before the 59 per cent growth of Q1 2025 made it obvious to everyone.

The central judgement in the Estepona property market report Q3 2024, that Estepona’s development led advantage would persist, has held completely. Annual transactions rose from 3,163 in 2024 to 3,466 in 2025, and Estepona has remained the second largest and fastest growing market in the Golden Triangle in every quarter since.

How to Read This Edition

The Estepona property market report Q3 2024 is the baseline edition of the series. Everything published since is best understood as a continuation of the divergence first visible here, where Estepona had recovered its previous peak while both neighbours remained well below theirs.

Read alongside later quarters, it also demonstrates the value of tracking a market across years rather than reacting to individual quarters. The structural advantage identified here, land availability combined with willingness to permit development, has determined Estepona’s relative performance in every subsequent quarter, through both the surges and the apparent slowdowns.

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