Castillo de la Duquesa Property Prices in 2026: Notarial EUR/m2 at the Manilva Fortress

In Castillo de la Duquesa, the registered sale price, what buyers actually paid at the notary, averaged 2,450 EUR/m2 across all property types in July 2026, with apartments at 2,450 EUR/m2 and villas at 2,450 EUR/m2 (listyco notarial data, 2026-07, Consejo General del Notariado). The most striking feature of this zone’s data is the convergence: every non-null metric, the all-type average, the apartment figure, the all-villa figure and the resale villa figure, sits at exactly the same 2,450 EUR/m2. New-build villas registered n/a, meaning the villa market is entirely resale-driven. These are real closing prices recorded at the notary, not asking prices, and they position Castillo de la Duquesa as a compact beachfront village anchored by one of the western Costa del Sol’s most distinctive historic landmarks.

What did property actually sell for in Castillo de la Duquesa in 2026?

Registered notarial sales in the zone averaged 2,450 EUR/m2 across all property types in July 2026: 2,450 EUR/m2 for apartments, 2,450 EUR/m2 for all villas, and 2,450 EUR/m2 for resale villas (listyco notarial data, Consejo General del Notariado). The new-build villa figure is n/a, meaning no newly completed detached villa transactions registered in sufficient volume to produce a reliable figure this month. These are the prices recorded at the notary when a deed is signed, the most reliable public signal of what a home in this beachfront village actually changed hands for.

Property type	Registered price (EUR/m2), Castillo de la Duquesa, July 2026
All property types	2,450
Apartments	2,450
All villas	2,450
Resale villas	2,450
New-build villas	n/a

Source: listyco notarial data, 2026-07 (Consejo General del Notariado). The new-build villa metric is n/a because no newly completed detached villa transactions registered in sufficient volume to produce a reliable figure this month. This is common across the Costa del Sol: the new-build villa metric is null in the vast majority of zones, meaning the villa segment is entirely resale. In Castillo de la Duquesa, the resale villa figure (2,450 EUR/m2) equals the all-villa figure (2,450 EUR/m2), confirming that every villa transaction this month was a resale, with no new-build completions entering the mix. The identical resale and all-villa figures indicate that the older detached stock that transacted this period carried the same registered price as the broader villa pool, a pattern consistent with a small, homogeneous transaction set.

What changed between June and July 2026?

Every notarial metric in Castillo de la Duquesa was identical in June and July 2026. The all-type average, the apartment figure, the all-villa figure and the resale villa figure all held at 2,450 EUR/m2, and the new-build villa metric remained n/a. The month-over-month trend is therefore flat.

This does not mean the market is stagnant. The flat local figure sits within a strongly rising provincial and national market. Tinsa’s IMIE Mercados Locales index reported 15.2 per cent year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2026, published on 30 June 2026, the highest rate since the third quarter of 2006 and 11.8 percentage points above the general inflation rate (Tinsa, IMIE Mercados Locales Q2 2026). Tinsa’s monthly IMIE General index recorded 15.6 per cent year-on-year growth in June 2026, published on 14 July 2026, with the Mediterranean coast segment at 17.2 per cent (Tinsa, IMIE June 2026). The INE Housing Price Index recorded 12.9 per cent year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2026, with new homes up 9.1 per cent and second-hand homes up 13.5 per cent (INE, HPI Q1 2026, base 2025, published 8 June 2026).

A flat month-over-month notarial figure against this backdrop signals price absorption: the zone’s registered transactions did not move from June to July, but the broader market context in which those transactions sit is rising sharply. For a buyer, this means the local figure is holding within a market that is pulling upward, and the absence of movement at the zone level reflects the small transaction pool rather than a cooling market.

What kind of place is Castillo de la Duquesa and who buys there?

Castillo de la Duquesa is the smallest of the three population nuclei that make up the municipality of Manilva, sitting on the Mediterranean coast immediately west of the Puerto de la Duquesa marina. The municipality had 18,818 residents on the current padron (Ayuntamiento de Manilva), distributed across three nuclei: Manilva pueblo inland, Sabinillas on the coast, and El Castillo near the marina, plus numerous urbanisations. The SIMA municipal ficha records 18,044 residents on the 2025 padron, with 7,047 foreign residents, of whom the largest group by nationality is British at 32.4 per cent of the foreign population (Instituto de Estadistica y Cartografia de Andalucía). The municipality covers 35.59 square kilometres and sits 95.7 kilometres from Málaga city and roughly 35 kilometres from Gibraltar (SIMA, Ayuntamiento de Manilva).

The village takes its name from the Castillo de la Duquesa, an 18th-century fortress built in 1767 under King Charles III by the Sevillan Francisco Paulino, who was granted command of a cavalry company in return for funding its construction. The fortress, also known as the Fortin de Sabinillas, was built to protect the anchorage near Gibraltar during the years when Spain attempted to recover the territory by military means. It stands on the coast on the site of a large Roman fishing village, and the surrounding archaeological complex includes the remains of a Roman villa, baths, a necropolis and a substantial fish-salting factory (garum production) with an adjoining market, evidence that the site was a working industrial settlement in the second century. The fortress itself now houses the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Manilva, and the beach that runs from the marina to the fortress is known as Playa de la Duquesa-El Castillo.

The housing stock is compact and predominantly low-rise. Beachfront apartment complexes line the promenade that connects the marina to the fortress, while a modest number of detached villas and townhouses sit on the streets that climb inland from the beach. The zone is quieter than the marina, which draws its evening footfall from the bars and restaurants around the berths, and quieter than Sabinillas, which carries the municipality’s commercial weight. The buyer profile leans toward retirees and pre-retirees who value the walkable beachfront setting, the historic character of the village, and the proximity to the marina’s amenities without living on top of them. British and Nordic buyers are well represented, drawn by the relative value compared with the Marbella-Estepona corridor further east and the closeness to Gibraltar. The municipality recorded 156 new-build and 1,195 resale property transactions in 2024, with 7,151 main family dwellings counted in the 2021 census (SIMA), placing Castillo de la Duquesa within a municipality where resale volume dominates new-build by a factor of nearly eight to one. For the wider municipal context, see the Manilva Pueblo property prices guide.

What drives prices in Castillo de la Duquesa?

Three structural factors shape the EUR/m2 figure in this zone, and understanding them is essential to reading the registered average correctly.

The homogeneous transaction pool. The single most distinctive feature of this zone’s July 2026 data is the convergence of every non-null metric at 2,450 EUR/m2. In a compact beachfront village where the stock is predominantly mid-range apartments and villas of similar vintage, prices can converge when the transactions that closed this month happened to span comparable property types and sizes. This is structurally different from zones with a wide villa premium, where detached plots on large land command a clear lift above apartment blocks, or from apartment-led town centres where the all-type average sits close to the apartment rate because apartments dominate the volume. Here, the convergence tells a buyer that the price floor and ceiling met in the middle this month. A buyer should anchor on 2,450 EUR/m2 regardless of property type, while recognising that the convergence reflects a small sample rather than a market where property type is irrelevant.

The beachfront position between marina and village. Castillo de la Duquesa sits directly on the Mediterranean waterfront, with the Playa de la Duquesa-El Castillo running from the marina to the fortress. The beachfront position is the zone’s primary amenity, but it does not carry the marina-front premium that Puerto de la Duquesa commands, nor the town-centre amenity floor that Sabinillas offers. The registered all-type average sits between the two on the same notarial measure (listyco notarial data, 2026-07, Consejo General del Notariado), reflecting the difference between marina-front exclusivity, beachfront-village quiet, and urban-centre convenience. For the full acquisition-cost breakdown, including the 7 per cent Andalusian ITP on resales, see the cost of buying guide.

The resale-dominated market. The absence of a new-build villa figure (n/a) is itself a supply signal. Where new-build villa data is null, the villa segment is entirely resale, and new construction is too limited to produce a reliable figure. In Castillo de la Duquesa, every villa transaction this month was a resale, and the resale villa figure (2,450 EUR/m2) equals the all-villa figure (2,450 EUR/m2), confirming no new-build completions entered the mix. This indicates that the villa stock is established and that new villa development within the existing village envelope is limited. A buyer seeking a newly built villa should check current development activity directly rather than rely on the notarial figure, which captures only completed and deeded transactions. For rental returns in the wider region, see the Marbella rental yields guide.

How does Castillo de la Duquesa compare to neighbouring zones?

Castillo de la Duquesa occupies the beachfront-village position within the Manilva coastal strip, sitting between the marina and the urban centre. Its relationship to the immediately adjacent zones is the most important comparison for a buyer evaluating this stretch of coast. The table below shows the percentage gap between each neighbour’s July 2026 notarial figures and Castillo de la Duquesa’s 2,450 EUR/m2 across all property types, apartments and resale villas. A positive figure means the neighbour is more expensive; a negative figure means it is cheaper.

Zone	All types gap	Apartments gap	Resale villas gap
La Duquesa (marina)	6% above	2% below	33% above
El Castillo (beachfront enclave)	12% above	21% below	38% above
Chullera (coastal)	5% above	7% below	34% above
Sabinillas (urban centre)	1% below	3% below	23% above
Manilva Pueblo (inland village)	21% below	20% below	22% below

Source: listyco notarial data, 2026-07 (Consejo General del Notariado). Gaps are rounded percentages calculated against Castillo de la Duquesa’s 2,450 EUR/m2.

Three patterns emerge from the comparison. First, the apartment market across the Manilva coastal strip is remarkably tight: La Duquesa, Sabinillas and Chullera all sit within 7 per cent of Castillo de la Duquesa on the apartment measure, suggesting a relatively homogeneous beachfront apartment market where location differences are modest at the apartment level. Second, the resale villa market diverges sharply: El Castillo and Chullera command 38 per cent and 34 per cent premiums on resale villas respectively, while their apartments sit below Castillo de la Duquesa. This composition inversion reveals that El Castillo and Chullera carry villa stock with a land-value premium that their apartment stock does not share, while Castillo de la Duquesa’s convergence means its villas and apartments trade at the same level. Third, Manilva Pueblo is the only neighbour cheaper on every measure, reflecting its position as an inland hilltop white village separated from the coast, with townhouse and finca stock rather than beachfront apartments.

A buyer choosing between Castillo de la Duquesa and its neighbours is effectively choosing between marina-front living (La Duquesa, 6 per cent above on all types but 33 per cent above on resale villas), beachfront-village quiet with a historic fortress (Castillo de la Duquesa, the convergence point), or the inland village alternative (Manilva Pueblo, 21 per cent below across the board). For the broader regional context, see the Nueva Andalucía property prices guide.

Why are registered prices lower than asking prices?

The notarial average of 2,450 EUR/m2 sits below the asking-price headlines buyers encounter in listings. This gap is structural and common across the Costa del Sol, and it reflects the fundamental difference between what sellers list and what transactions actually close at.

Asking prices for beachfront apartments near the promenade typically start above EUR 200,000 for two-bedroom units with sea proximity, and villas in the streets behind the beach are listed at higher levels still. These are list prices set by sellers and their agents. Registered notarial prices are what actually closed at the notary after negotiation, across the full transaction mix including older properties, smaller units, and transfers that would never appear in a prime listing feed. The gap between the two reflects negotiation outcomes, the variety of properties that transact, and the time lag between listing and completion. In a compact village where the stock spans several decades and property sizes vary, the registered average captures the full range, pulling the figure below the curated asking-price feeds that show only the better-presented properties.

For the national market trajectory, Tinsa’s IMIE Local Markets index reported 15.2 per cent year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2026, the highest rate since the third quarter of 2006, published on 30 June 2026 (Tinsa, IMIE Mercados Locales Q2 2026). The INE Housing Price Index recorded 12.9 per cent year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2026, with new homes up 9.1 per cent and used homes up 13.5 per cent (INE, HPI Q1 2026, base 2025, published 8 June 2026). These national figures frame the broader Spanish market context in which this zone’s local figures sit, though the registered notarial figure for Castillo de la Duquesa remains the most reliable benchmark for what actually closed in this specific zone.

How should a buyer read the Castillo de la Duquesa data?

The registered figures confirm Castillo de la Duquesa’s position as a compact beachfront village within the Manilva municipality, distinguished by the convergence of every non-null metric at a single 2,450 EUR/m2 figure. The all-type average is a blended figure, but here the blend does not separate: apartments, all villas and resale villas all transacted at the same registered price this month. A buyer should anchor on 2,450 EUR/m2 regardless of property type, while recognising that the convergence reflects a small, homogeneous transaction pool rather than a market where property type carries no price weight.

The resale-dominated market is the key supply signal. The absence of a new-build villa figure (n/a) and the resale villa figure equalling the all-villa figure tell a buyer that the villa stock is established and that new construction is not delivering completed homes in sufficient volume to register. This is a zone where the market runs on resale, and a buyer seeking new construction should look at current development activity directly rather than at the notarial figure, which captures only deeded transactions.

The beachfront-village position is the structural reading. Castillo de la Duquesa sits between the marina and the urban centre, offering beachfront quiet with a historic landmark rather than marina-front exclusivity or town-centre convenience. The registered average reflects this middle position, registering below the marina and the beachfront villa enclaves, and above the town centre on the apartment measure, on the same notarial measure. For buyers seeking a walkable beachfront with a historic character at the western edge of the Costa del Sol, with proximity to Gibraltar and a year-round community, Castillo de la Duquesa offers a proposition that the marina-exclusive and urban-centre zones cannot match.