Marbella costs €5,150 per square metre to buy.

Estepona costs €4,470.

But Estepona's rents run €21.50 per m² per month. Marbella's run €19.

If you're buying for rental income, Estepona's implied yield is 5.77%. Marbella's is 4.43%. That's a 30% difference in gross return for towns only 25 minutes apart on the AP-7.

The gap tells a story: the coast is splitting into two markets. Lifestyle towns where you rent to live. Yield towns where you buy to earn.

Lifestyle towns (low yield, rent weak relative to sale price):

Yield towns (higher yield, rent carries more weight):

Source: Idealista listing metrics, over 50 sales + 50 rental listings per town. Listing prices, not transaction data. Snapshot collected January 18th, 2026.

If you want to live somewhere beautiful: The rent market gives you access to lifestyle the buy market prices you out of. A €2,000/month rental in Marbella gets you an address that would cost €500,000+ to own. Renting isn't a compromise. It's a different strategy.

If you want your property to work for you: The prestige towns are capital appreciation bets, not income generators. A Marbella apartment won't cover its mortgage with rent alone. An Estepona apartment might.

If you're doing both: You can live in Marbella and own in Torremolinos. The "where to live" and "where to invest" decisions don't have to be the same decision.

The old framing: "Can I afford to live in Marbella?"

The better framing: "What am I actually buying?"

If you're buying a lifestyle, renting gets you there cheaper. If you're buying income, the unglamorous towns deliver. If you're buying appreciation, you're betting that foreign capital will continue to flow into prestige addresses.

All three are valid. But they're different bets.

When comparing towns with an agent:

¿Cuál es el rendimiento bruto típico aquí? — What's the typical gross yield here?

¿Cuánto tiempo suelen estar vacíos los pisos en alquiler? — How long do rental flats typically sit empty?

The coast is stratifying. Nerja, Benalmádena, and Marbella are lifestyle bets: beautiful places to rent, capital appreciation plays to buy. Estepona, Málaga, and Torremolinos are yield plays: rents that actually support ownership. The old assumption that expensive to buy means expensive to live is breaking down. You can have the Marbella address without the Marbella mortgage. Whether that's smart depends on what you're actually trying to buy.

Not bad for a Monday — A. and the WaypointSur team reading listings so you don't have to.