The Costa del Sol is experiencing one of the periods of highest demand for housing in its recent history, and also one of the most strained. National and international interest in living in the province continues to grow, but the supply of housing in Málaga is not keeping pace.
In a recent interview with El Español de Málaga, Gastón Aigneren, CEO of Exxacon, and Elena Cuberos, the company’s managing director, looked back on nearly 26 years as a Malaga-based property developer and put forward a clear assessment: the housing problem in Malaga will not be solved by pointing the finger at developers, but by granting greater freedom to build.
A Malaga-based property developer forged through two crises
Exxacon was founded in Marbella in 2000, at the height of the property boom, and subsequently survived the financial crisis that wiped out a large part of the sector. That experience shaped our approach to the business: prudent growth, sound investment partners and particularly careful management in times of uncertainty. As Elena Cuberos recalls, the company chose at the time to “take the loss, selling properties solely to repay the bank, with no intention of making a profit”, a decision that enabled us to maintain the trust of our co-investors, some of whom remain associated with Exxacon more than two decades later.
That culture of prudence and learning continues to be passed on to the entire Exxacon team today, with the conviction that the current favourable market conditions do not exempt us from continuing to act with rigour and professionalism.
The real bottleneck in the housing market in Málaga
Unlike other Spanish provinces, house prices in Málaga have not only failed to slow down, but have continued to rise. The problem is not one of demand, but of the capacity to develop new housing estates: there is a shortage of ready-to-build land, a shortage of construction firms, and a shortage of skilled labour to cope with the volume of building work the province requires.
Added to this production shortfall is a structural obstacle: infrastructure. Electricity, water and sanitation supplies are not always scaled to the area’s population growth, which delays or even brings to a standstill projects that already have guaranteed demand. For Gastón Aigneren, the solution boils down to one word: freedom. Freedom in town planning to allow for different building types and heights, and freedom for utility companies to invest in advance in the capacity that new developments will require.
Prices: the true cost of land, construction and taxes
In an interview with El Español de Málaga, Elena Cuberos and Gastón Aigneren use data to refute the idea that property developers are behind the surge in prices. The cost of a new home comprises the price of land, construction costs — which are rising due to shortages of materials and labour — and a tax burden which, as our CEO explains, accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the final price: “Almost 30 per cent of the cost of a home is made up of taxes […] We need to find ways to reduce them.” For the company, any genuine strategy to curb house prices must include reviewing this tax burden, as well as speeding up the release of available land and making progress on the industrialisation of construction.
Infrastructure that is not keeping pace with demand
Elena Cuberos highlights another, less visible but equally crucial aspect: the maintenance of existing infrastructure, not just the creation of new infrastructure. From beach clean-ups to the energy capacity of the grid, the managing director of Exxacon argues that public authorities must anticipate the province’s growth rather than react once the problem has already arisen. And, when the public sector is unable to take on certain infrastructure projects (as is the case with the coastal railway), both executives agree that the private sector is well placed to provide solutions if given the right conditions to do so.
Exxacon, committed to developing new residential developments in Málaga
With a history spanning almost 26 years, Exxacon sees itself as a Malaga-based property developer that views the property business as a long-distance race, not a sprint.
It is precisely this long-term vision that underpins our current commitment: to continue developing new homes in Málaga that meet the province’s real demand, adopting a prudent and professional management approach, whilst recognising that the housing challenge can only be resolved through collaboration — between public authorities, the private sector and developers — rather than by apportioning blame.