If you are selling a property on the Costa Cálida in 2026, the plusvalía municipal is a tax you pay to the local town hall (ayuntamiento) on the increase in value of the land your property sits on during the years you owned it. Since a 2021 reform, you can choose between two ways of calculating it — the objective method (a formula based on the cadastral land value) and the real method (based on your actual gain) — and the town hall must apply whichever produces the lower bill if you claim it. Crucially, if the land did not gain value at all between purchase and sale, you owe nothing.
In practical terms: on a typical Costa Cálida resale in a town such as San Javier, Los Alcázares, Torre-Pacheco, Mazarrón or Águilas, the plusvalía is usually a modest few-hundred-to-low-thousands-of-euros figure — far smaller than the national capital gains tax on the same sale. But it is the seller's responsibility (unless you are a non-resident, in which case it shifts to the buyer), and getting the method wrong can cost you real money. This guide explains exactly how the two methods work in Murcia, with a worked example, so you can walk into completion knowing your number.
Its full legal name is the Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (IIVTNU) — the tax on the increase in value of urban land. Three points matter for Costa Cálida sellers:
Plusvalía is one line in the wider cost of selling. For the full picture — national capital gains tax, the 3% retention, agent fees and energy certificate — see our guide to selling property in Spain in 2026.
The rule depends on residency:
Whichever side you sit on, the plusvalía is settled at or just after the notary completion appointment, so it needs to be quantified before you sign.
Since the reform introduced by Royal Decree-Law 26/2021, taxpayers can choose between the objective method and the real method, and the town hall must accept the lower result when the taxpayer proves it. Here is how each works.
This is the "default" formula. It multiplies:
Taxable base = valor catastral del suelo × annual coefficient
then applies the local tax rate:
Plusvalía due = taxable base × municipal tax rate
Introduced to reflect reality after the Constitutional Court struck down the old formula, this method taxes your actual land gain. You take the difference between what you sold for and what you paid, then apply the proportion that the land represents in the cadastral value:
Real land gain = (sale price − purchase price) × (% of cadastral value that is land)
then apply the same municipal tax rate. If the land share of the cadastral value is, say, 40%, only 40% of your total gain is treated as a land gain for this tax.
Imagine you bought a two-bedroom apartment near the Mar Menor in 2014 for €150,000 and sell it in 2026 for €200,000 — a gain of €50,000 over 12 years of ownership. The cadastral value is €80,000, of which the land portion is €32,000 (40%). We will use illustrative coefficients and rate for demonstration only; your real figures come from the ayuntamiento.
| Step | Objective method | Real method |
|---|---|---|
| Starting figure | Land cadastral value €32,000 | Total gain €50,000 |
| Adjustment | × coefficient for 12 yrs (illustrative 0.12) | × land share 40% |
| Taxable base | €3,840 | €20,000 |
| Municipal rate (illustrative 25%) | ×25% | ×25% |
| Plusvalía due | €960 | €5,000 |
Here the objective method wins clearly (€960 vs €5,000) because the cadastral land value is modest. But if your cadastral land value were very high relative to your actual gain — common where the catastro has been revalued upward or where you sold at little profit — the real method could be far cheaper, or produce a zero bill. Always calculate both. The illustrative coefficient and rate above must be replaced with the exact figures your town hall publishes for 2026.
A frequent source of confusion: the plusvalía objective method does not use the sale price — it uses the cadastral land value. That is a different figure from the valor de referencia, the reference value the tax office uses as the minimum taxable base for the buyer's transfer tax. On the Costa Cálida the buyer pays resale ITP at 7.75% in 2026 (Murcia's Ley 3/2025 rate — many websites still quote the outdated 8%), and that ITP is charged on the higher of the price or the valor de referencia. The plusvalía you pay as seller is a separate, much smaller calculation. Don't conflate the two.
Because this is a local, deadline-bound tax that varies town by town, this is exactly the sort of thing a good conveyancing lawyer earns their fee on — the roughly 1% + IVA legal cost of a Costa Cálida transaction typically covers running the plusvalía both ways for you.
Plusvalía municipal exists in all four Mediter regions — Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida, Costa del Sol and Costa Almería — under the same national framework, but the coefficients and rates are set locally by each ayuntamiento, so the bill differs town by town rather than by autonomous community. What does differ by community is the buyer's transfer tax on a resale, which is worth keeping in mind when you compare regions:
| Region | Autonomous community | Resale ITP 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Costa Cálida | Murcia | 7.75% (Ley 3/2025) |
| Costa Blanca | C. Valenciana | 9% (from 1 June 2026; 11% above €1M) |
| Costa del Sol | Andalucía | 7% |
| Costa Almería | Andalucía | 7% |
If you are weighing where to buy or sell next, our four-coast comparison sets out lifestyle and cost differences, and our specific guide to Costa Cálida holiday-home taxes covers the annual IBI and Modelo 210 obligations you keep while you own.
No. Since the 2021 reform, if you can prove there was no increase in the land value between purchase and sale — using your original and current escrituras — the plusvalía is not due. You must present the evidence to the town hall to benefit from this.
Legally the buyer becomes liable when the seller is non-resident, because the tax office cannot easily pursue a departed seller. In practice the buyer usually retains the estimated amount from the price at completion and pays it on the seller's behalf. Your lawyer should set this out in the arras contract.
For a sale, the deadline is generally 30 working days from the notary signing. Some Murcia town halls issue an assessment for you to pay instead of requiring a self-assessment — confirm the procedure with the specific ayuntamiento.
Not under the objective method — that uses the cadastral value of the land and an annual coefficient. Only the real method looks at your actual gain (sale price minus purchase price, adjusted for the land share). You are entitled to the method that produces the lower bill.
It varies with the cadastral land value, years of ownership and the local rate, but on a typical resale apartment it is usually a few hundred to a low four-figure sum — considerably less than the national capital gains tax on the same sale.
Yes. The plusvalía municipal is a local tax on the land's increase in value, paid to the town hall. National capital gains tax (IRPF for residents, or the 3% retention and Modelo 210 process for non-residents) is a separate state tax on your overall profit. Both can apply to the same sale.
Getting the plusvalía calculated both ways, on the correct 2026 figures, can be the difference between a fair bill and an overpayment. Mediter Real Estate helps buyers and sellers across the Costa Cálida, Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol and Costa Almería with accurate, region-specific advice and trusted local lawyers. Read our full selling guide or get in touch with our team today to discuss your sale or purchase.
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