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Renting around the Mar Menor is getting more expensive, and the latest Idealista figures show no sign of it letting up. Even though a few towns eased back slightly in August, every one of the five main municipalities is still paying more than it was a year earlier.

 

Los Alcázares is now the most expensive of the five, with an average rent of €10.6 per square metre, the highest the portal has ever recorded there. That's 3.2% more than in July, 10.2% more than three months ago and 9% up on a year ago.

 

San Pedro del Pinatar is close behind at €10.3 per square metre. It dipped 0.9% from July, when it hit €10.4, but the bigger picture is what matters here. Prices are 15.5% higher than a year ago, the biggest annual jump of any of the five, and 6% above where they were in May.

 

Torre Pacheco sits at €10 per square metre after falling 2.3% in a month from its July peak of €10.3. Even so, rents there are 7% higher than three months ago and 5.6% up on August last year.

 

San Javier and Cartagena are a little cheaper. San Javier closed August at €9.5 per square metre, 2% down on July but 8.1% higher than a year earlier. Cartagena held steady at €9.4, unchanged from the previous month and its highest figure ever in the report. Its 11.3% annual rise is the second largest of the five.

 

La Manga del Mar Menor tells a different story. Idealista lists it separately, and it's the priciest area at €12.2 per square metre, up 1.9% on the month. However, that is still 13.1% below the €14.1 recorded in August 2015. It isn't counted as a sixth municipality in the comparison.

 

For context, the average asking rent across the whole Region of Murcia is €9.6 per square metre, down 0.2% on July but up 4.7% on a year ago. All five Mar Menor municipalities have risen faster than that annual figure, though Cartagena and San Javier are still below the regional average price.

 

Idealista's figures reflect advertised rents rather than what tenants and landlords finally agree in their contracts, so actual prices may differ.

 

 

Image: Jakub Zerdzicki/Pexels