Building licences for holiday homes on the rise in Mar Menor

Authorities report more building license approvals as tourist numbers grow and hotel options remain limited

The Mar Menor area is seeing more and more building licences for holiday homes, with hundreds of applications in towns like La Manga, Santiago de la Ribera and Los Alcázares.

 According to the Region’s tourism institute, the number of tourist-use homes (Viviendas de Uso Turístico or VUTs) in Murcia has almost doubled in the past two years, reaching nearly 11,167 across the region. Cartagena leads the way with 1,641, followed by Murcia city with 1,529, Torre Pacheco with 1,502, La Manga del Mar Menor (San Javier area) with 1,146, Mazarrón with 904, and San Pedro del Pinatar with 766.

Some newly licensed homes in Los Alcázares are on the market for more than €325,000, with the tourist rental licence included.

Why the demand for holiday homes is rising along the Mar Menor

The Mar Menor area has always been a popular destination for Spanish families, mostly from inland towns and cities. Many of these properties are kept within the family. You will often see at least three generations of the same family all holidaying together. They tend to spend most of the summer, Easter and even Christmas in their holiday home. As these families rarely sell these properties, and hotel accommodation along the coast in this area is limited, the demand for more tourist accommodation has grown.

Licensed holiday homes are now popping up to meet this demand, giving tourists more legal accommodation options. Recent approvals include hundreds of new duplexes, chalets and apartments, particularly in La Manga and Santiago de la Ribera, where demand is highest.

Local urban planning officials stress that the rise in licences is carefully controlled. VUTs cannot later be converted into private residences, and regular inspections make sure properties are used for short-term tourist rentals as intended.

This is important as the debate about mass tourism and the number of tourist rentals in Spain grows. Some critics warn that too many holiday homes can put pressure on local communities. But for the Mar Menor, licensed VUTs are seen as a careful way to meet demand. 

For people who know the area, it’s clear that prices for homes and rentals have been climbing fast because there are fewer homes available than people want to buy or rent. In towns around the Mar Menor, property prices have been rising well above other parts of the region, in some areas by more than 20-30 % in recent years, showing just how tight the market has become.

With few hotel beds available and strong demand for accommodation, if these holiday homes are built in a controlled and sustained way, they could be good news for the area.

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