Marbella Approves Its New PGOM: A New Urban Planning Framework for the City

On 18 September 2026, Marbella City Council definitively approved its new General Municipal Development Plan (Plan General de Ordenación Municipal, PGOM), the first in Andalusia adapted to the regional LISTA planning framework. The approval replaces the general planning determinations of the 1986 plan and marks a new stage in the city’s urban planning framework.

What the new PGOM changes

The PGOM establishes Marbella’s general territorial and urban-planning model. According to the City Council, it classifies 53 million square metres as urban land, compared with approximately 40 million square metres under the previous planning framework. It also provides the general basis for future development, public housing, infrastructure, public facilities, green areas and land intended for economic activity.

The PGOM is not the final layer of detailed urban regulation. The City Council has stated that the document will be developed in greater detail through the future Plan de Ordenación Urbana (POU), which is still being processed.

Housing and inherited planning issues

Housing is one of the areas highlighted in the municipal announcement. For actions proposed on urban land, the new framework provides for 20% of buildability to be reserved for affordable housing.

The City Council also refers to around 18,000 homes that had remained outside a situation of urban-planning regularity as a result of Marbella’s complex planning history. The new PGOM provides a general regulatory basis from which the city can continue addressing those inherited situations. The approval itself should not be interpreted as automatically regularising every affected property.

What this means for buyers and property owners

For buyers, owners and investors, the approval of the PGOM provides a new general planning framework, but the position of an individual property still needs to be assessed on its own facts. Classification, applicable detailed planning, licences, planning records and the future POU remain relevant when analysing development potential or the urban-planning status of a specific asset.

This distinction is particularly important when a purchase decision depends on future buildability, redevelopment potential or the regularisation of an existing situation. General planning can establish the framework, but property-specific due diligence remains essential.

A new stage, not the end of the process

The definitive approval of the PGOM is a significant milestone for Marbella, but the planning process continues. The POU remains under preparation and will provide much of the detailed urban regulation required to apply the new model across the city.

For the property market, the most important point is therefore not simply that Marbella has a new PGOM, but how the new general framework is translated into detailed planning and applied to individual areas and properties over time.

Source: Marbella City Council, official announcement published 18 September 2026.