Buying Property in Murcia and the Costa Cálida
Published on: August 22, 2026
Last verified: 22 August 2026. Regional tax rates in Murcia, national visa thresholds, tourist-rental rules and environmental regulation around the Mar Menor change; confirm the current position for the specific property with an independent Spanish lawyer.
Quick answer: The Costa Cálida has the same sun as Alicante province and prices that have stayed below the Costa Blanca resorts, with two airports within reach. Murcia's transfer tax on resale property fell to 7.75 per cent on 25 July 2025, so budget roughly 10 to 11 per cent buyer-side on a resale and 13 to 14 per cent on a new build. Two things belong in the diligence here more than further north: the Mar Menor, which has had serious ecological crises and now holds legal personhood, together with the flood exposure of the towns around it, and the region's long record of planning disputes on urbanisations and rural land. Ownership no longer carries residency: Spain's Golden Visa ended on 3 April 2025.
The Costa Cálida is the 250-kilometre stretch of Spanish coast south of the Costa Blanca and north of Almería, belonging to the Region of Murcia. It has the same sun as Alicante province, the same two airports within reach, and prices that have stayed well below the Costa Blanca resorts even after the post-2023 recovery. It has also had a decade of environmental headlines about its defining feature, the Mar Menor lagoon, and a longer history of planning disputes inland.
Both of those things belong in a buyer's guide. This one covers the geography, the rules for foreign buyers, the taxes that are specific to Murcia, and the checks that matter more here than further north. Position as of August 2026.
The geography in one pass
| Area | What it is | Profile |
|---|---|---|
| San Pedro del Pinatar and Lo Pagán | Northern end of the Mar Menor, salt flats and mud baths, year-round town | Spanish and foreign retirees, flat and walkable |
| San Javier and Santiago de la Ribera | Mar Menor shore, former airport town, military academy, regional hospital | Mixed Spanish and international, good services |
| Los Alcázares | The most international Mar Menor town, long promenade, large foreign community | British, Dutch, Belgian and Scandinavian buyers; new-build developments inland |
| La Manga del Mar Menor | The 21-kilometre sand spit between the lagoon and the Mediterranean, dense apartment stock | Summer-heavy, quiet in winter, older buildings with community fees |
| Cabo de Palos, Mar de Cristal and the Cartagena coast | Fishing village, diving, marine reserve, scattered urbanisations | Higher prices at Cabo de Palos |
| Cartagena | Historic port city, second city of the region, modern hospital, fast road to Murcia | Urban living, Roman and naval heritage |
| Mazarrón and Puerto de Mazarrón | Working town and its beach resort, Bolnuevo, sheltered bays | Large British presence; Camposol urbanisation inland |
| Águilas | Southernmost town, quieter, better value, hospital | Spanish majority, growing foreign interest |
| Inland golf corridor (Torre-Pacheco, Roldán, Sucina, Fuente Álamo, Alhama de Murcia) | Purpose-built resorts of the 2000s: Mar Menor Golf Resort, La Torre, Hacienda Riquelme, Hacienda del Álamo, Condado de Alhama and others | Gated, international, car-dependent, 20 to 40 minutes from the sea |
| Murcia city | Regional capital, university, largest hospitals, tram, no sea | Year-round urban market, few foreign buyers |
Two airports serve the area: Región de Murcia International at Corvera, opened in 2019, with a largely seasonal and UK-weighted schedule, and Alicante-Elche, about an hour from the Mar Menor by motorway, with year-round routes across Europe. The AP-7 and A-7 connect the coast; a car is essential outside the towns.
Who can buy, and what visa you need
There are no restrictions on foreign ownership in Spain. Any buyer needs an NIE tax identification number and, in practice, a Spanish bank account.
What changed recently is the residency side:
- Spain's property-linked Golden Visa ended on 3 April 2025. Buying a home at any price no longer carries a residence permit.
- Non-EU nationals, including British, American and Canadian buyers, can use a second home within the Schengen limit of 90 days in any 180. To live in Spain they need a residence permit, most commonly the non-lucrative visa, which in 2026 requires passive income of 400 per cent of the IPREM: €2,400 a month or €28,800 a year for the main applicant, plus €600 a month per dependant, with private health insurance and no work of any kind, including remote work.
- The proposed 100 per cent tax on property purchases by non-EU non-residents, announced in January 2025, had not been debated or enacted by mid-2026 and was left out of the government's 2026 housing package. It is not a current cost. Monitor it, but do not price it in unless it becomes law.
- EU citizens register as residents after three months and face no income test beyond proof of means.
What a purchase costs in Murcia
Spain's purchase taxes are set by each region, and this is where Murcia differs from Valencia and Andalusia.
| Cost | Murcia position |
|---|---|
| Transfer tax (ITP) on resale property | General rate 7.75 per cent, reduced from 8 per cent with effect from 25 July 2025 under regional Law 3/2025. Many websites still quote 8 per cent. Reduced rates of 3 to 4 per cent exist for buyers under 40, large families and people with disabilities buying a main home within value and income limits |
| New build | VAT (IVA) at 10 per cent plus stamp duty (AJD), commonly quoted at 1.5 per cent in Murcia, with higher rates for certain documents |
| Notary and Land Registry | Roughly 1 to 1.5 per cent combined, on a statutory scale |
| Independent lawyer | Commonly around 1 per cent plus VAT |
| Agent commission | Usually paid by the seller and built into the price; confirm |
| Mortgage costs (if any) | Valuation, arrangement fee, and AJD on the loan is the bank's cost since 2019 |
| Total buyer-side | Roughly 10 to 11 per cent on a resale, 13 to 14 per cent on a new build |
Ongoing costs: IBI (municipal property tax, set locally and generally low by European standards), refuse charges, community fees on urbanisations and resorts, and for non-residents the annual imputed income tax on a property that is not let, charged at 19 per cent for EU and EEA residents and 24 per cent for others on a small notional percentage of the cadastral value. Murcia's inheritance and gift tax carries a 99 per cent regional rebate for spouses, children and parents, and the region's wealth tax position was restructured from the 2025 tax year to interact with the national solidarity tax on large fortunes, so take advice if your worldwide net assets are substantial.
The checks that matter more here
The Mar Menor
Europe's largest saltwater lagoon suffered severe eutrophication episodes in 2016, 2019 and 2021, with mass fish deaths in the later two, driven principally by nutrient run-off from intensive agriculture in the Campo de Cartagena. The response has been unusual: a 2020 regional protection law restricting fertiliser use and farming practices in buffer strips around the lagoon, and a 2022 national law that granted the Mar Menor legal personhood, the first ecosystem in Europe to receive it. Water quality has improved in some periods and deteriorated in others since, and monitoring continues.
For a buyer this means three things. Lagoon-front pricing carries environmental risk that Mediterranean-side pricing does not. The state of the water in the month you visit is not the state of the water. And the enforcement of the agricultural restrictions is a live political issue in the region, which affects both the lagoon's recovery and inland land use.
Flooding
The Mar Menor towns, and Los Alcázares and San Javier in particular, were badly flooded by the September 2019 storm and again in later episodes. The flat coastal plain drains slowly and the ramblas that cross it run dry for years and then fill in hours. Check the national flood-risk mapping for the specific plot, ask about the ground floor, and confirm that buildings insurance is in place; Spain's public insurance compensation consortium covers extraordinary flood events for insured properties, which makes the policy, not only the location, part of the answer.
Planning history and licences
Murcia's inland and hinterland have a long record of building disputes: urbanisations whose infrastructure was never formally adopted by the town hall, houses on rural land without the licences that should have preceded them, and resorts whose original developers failed in the 2008 to 2012 crash and were completed or rescued under new ownership. None of this makes the region unbuyable; it makes the paperwork decisive.
Before signing, your lawyer should obtain and check:
- The nota simple from the Land Registry: ownership, charges, mortgages, any annotation of planning infringement.
- The first occupation licence (licencia de primera ocupación) and the habitability certificate (cédula de habitabilidad) where required.
- The cadastral record and whether it matches the registered and physical property. Discrepancies in built area are common and can block a mortgage.
- The status of the urbanisation's infrastructure: whether roads, lighting and drainage have been received by the municipality or remain the developers' or owners' responsibility. Parts of Camposol near Mazarrón have been the subject of long-running disputes on exactly this point.
- Community accounts on resorts and urbanisations: arrears, reserve funds, the financial health of the golf course and whether unfinished phases carry obligations for existing owners.
- For rural property, the land classification and whether any construction is regularised.
Water
The region's water comes from the Tagus-Segura transfer, desalination and groundwater, and the transfer has been reduced by national ecological-flow rules. Urban supply to the coast is reliable; pressure falls on agriculture and on pools, gardens and rural wells. See our guide to water scarcity for property buyers for the wider picture.
Short-term letting
Letting a holiday home requires registration with the Region of Murcia's tourism registry and, since 1 July 2025, a national registration number that platforms must display. Community statutes can restrict or ban tourist lets in individual buildings. Check both before assuming rental income.
The purchase process
- Reservation with a modest deposit, conditional on legal checks. Do not pay a large sum at this stage.
- Private purchase contract (contrato de arras), usually with a 10 per cent deposit. Under the common penalty form, the buyer who withdraws loses the deposit and the seller who withdraws pays double.
- Completion before a notary, with the balance paid by banker's draft or transfer, keys handed over and the deed signed. Foreign buyers frequently complete by power of attorney.
- Taxes and registration: ITP or VAT and AJD paid within 30 working days, deed registered at the Land Registry, utilities and IBI transferred.
Six to ten weeks from reservation to completion is normal for a resale with clean paperwork.
Frequently asked questions
Can foreigners buy property in Murcia?
Yes. Spain places no restrictions on foreign ownership. You need an NIE number, and non-EU buyers should note that ownership gives no right of residence since the Golden Visa ended in April 2025.
What is the transfer tax in Murcia?
7.75 per cent on resale property since 25 July 2025, down from 8 per cent. New builds pay 10 per cent VAT plus stamp duty.
Is the Mar Menor safe to buy near?
The lagoon has had serious ecological crises and is now legally protected, with recovery uneven. Buyers should check current water-quality reporting, flood mapping and insurance rather than relying on a single visit.
Where do British and Dutch buyers concentrate?
Los Alcázares, Mazarrón and Puerto de Mazarrón, Camposol, and the inland golf resorts around Torre-Pacheco, Roldán and Sucina, with smaller communities in San Pedro del Pinatar, La Manga and Águilas.
Which airport should I use?
Alicante for year-round choice, about an hour from the Mar Menor. Corvera is closer for much of the coast but its schedule is seasonal and UK-weighted.
Can I rent the property out?
Yes, subject to regional tourist registration, the national registry number introduced in 2025 and the building's community rules. Long-term lets are subject to national tenancy law.
Do I need a lawyer?
Spanish law does not require one, but the planning history of the region makes independent legal due diligence the most valuable money in the budget.
Keep reading on JanusHermes
The Costa Cálida rewards the buyer who treats the lagoon, the flood map and the urbanisation's paperwork as three separate questions and gets written answers to all three before the arras contract. JanusHermes lists property from local agencies in 11 languages, with the local agency's own contact details on every listing.
On Spain, see the country guide for foreign buyers, the Costa Blanca, the Costa del Sol, Valencia and retiring in Spain. On the diligence, read the Schengen 90/180 rule, flood and natural catastrophe insurance, whether your overseas property is legal and holiday let licensing rules by country.
This article is general information about the rules in force at the time of writing and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Regional tax rates in Murcia, national visa thresholds, tourist-rental rules and environmental regulation around the Mar Menor change, and the proposed national surcharge on non-EU buyers remained a proposal at the time of writing. Confirm the current position for the specific property with an independent Spanish lawyer you have engaged yourself, and take tax advice in your home country before buying.
Primary sources: Region of Murcia Law 3/2025 reducing the general ITP rate to 7.75 per cent from 25 July 2025, and the regional reduced-rate categories; Spanish VAT and stamp duty rates on new-build purchases; the repeal of Spain's investor residence permit effective 3 April 2025; the non-lucrative visa income requirement expressed as 400 per cent of the IPREM; Law 19/2022 granting legal personhood to the Mar Menor and the 2020 regional protection law; the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros regime for extraordinary flood events; the national single registry for short-term rentals applying from 1 July 2025; non-resident imputed income tax rates.
