The Journal · September 2026
Almost one in five homes sold in Marbella now tops €1 million. Above €4 million, just 1.5%
I compared the sales registered in Marbella and Benahavís over the last year with those of 2016. The market has not become as expensive as people think: a whole price band has appeared that barely existed ten years ago.
THE MARKET IN THREE FIGURES
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Open the PDFIs everything more expensive?
The general comment I hear from people outside the industry is that everything is very expensive. With that in mind, I took the sales registered in Marbella and Benahavís over the last four quarters, split them into three price bands and compared them with 2016. The data bears out that feeling, though not for the reason most people think.
Sales by price band: 2016 versus today
Share of the homes sold in Marbella and Benahavís in each price band.
The market has moved up a step, and it is a big one
In 2016, 93.9% of what sold was below one million euros. Today it is 81.8%, still by a long way the bulk of the market, but the band between one and four million has gone from 5.9% of sales to 16.7%, almost three times the weight.
Almost one in five homes sold in the last year went for more than a million. Ten years ago it was one in sixteen. That is why everything seems so expensive: a whole segment of the market, with plenty of deals, has appeared that barely existed a decade ago.
Above four million, the market is still tiny
Its share has gone from 0.1% to 1.5%, fifteen times higher. That sounds like a lot, but 1.5% is one sale in 67. The real change is between one and four million, and that is where most of the money moves.
1.5% is one sale in 67. It is the smallest part of the market and, by a wide margin, the one people talk about most.
Sales registered in Marbella and Benahavís, Q2 2025 to Q1 2026.
And that is what makes the next figure so striking. If only one sale in 67 closes above four million, how much is on the market at that price waiting for a buyer? The answer is measured in decades.
Homes over four million: 23 years of inventory
Take all the homes currently for sale in Marbella and Benahavís and work out how long it would take to sell them all at the current pace. Below one million, about sixteen months; between one and four million, a little under five years; and above four million, twenty-two years and ten months.
Time to sell all inventory at the current pace
Inventory for sale divided by monthly sales in each band. Scale in years.
If a balanced market clears its inventory in about twenty months, the first band is healthy, the second is slow and the third is a shop window. Of every 67 homes sold in the last year, one went above four million, while the number for sale at that price keeps growing.
The comparison with 2016 is the key: above four million, inventory already exceeded twenty years. This segment has never moved at the pace of the rest. What has changed is everything else: between one and four million, inventory has gone from under four years to almost five, and below one million, from just over a year to sixteen months.
What it means for you
Each reader can take something different from this.
Your benchmark is not the villa next door, which may have been on the market for a decade, but the few sales that have actually closed.
You have the widest choice on the coast, almost no competition and a certain urgency: anything with good value for money sells quickly.
Between one and four million is where the liquidity is: one sale in six and a buyer base that has tripled in ten years. Above four, buy the home to live in it. Do not count on a quick exit.
Methodology. 2026 data: sales from the second quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026 and inventory as at 1 April 2026. Sales adjusted using the Ministry of Housing factors. Absorption = inventory / monthly sales. Compared with 2016 sales.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of homes sold in Marbella top one million euros?
18.2% of the sales registered in Marbella and Benahavís between the second quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026: 16.7% between one and four million and 1.5% above four. In 2016 it was 6%.
How long does it take to sell a home worth over four million in Marbella?
It depends on the home, but at the current pace of sales, the inventory of homes over four million in Marbella and Benahavís would take about 22 years and 10 months to sell. That is why the price is set by looking at the few closed sales, not at the homes that remain on the market.
How much inventory is there below one million euros?
About sixteen months at the current pace of sales, close to the twenty months considered a balanced market. It is the healthiest band of the market.
About the author
Alfonso Lacruz
Naval engineer and market analyst. Over 25 years advising owners in Marbella and Benahavís. Publishes a monthly market analysis with Land Registry data.
The figures are indicative and every property is different: for a specific number, ask for a valuation of your home.
Sources: Land Registry (Registro de la Propiedad); Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana); inventory of homes for sale in Marbella and Benahavís. Last updated: 9 September 2026.
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