Cartagena City Council puts 14 historic centre plots up for auction

Owners had not met their obligation to build on the land as part of the city’s Housing Strategy

The plot being put up for sale on Calle del Aire

Cartagena's Department of Urban Planning has published details online for 14 plots of land in the city’s historic centre that are set to be auctioned.

The sites are part of an initial group of 41 properties where owners had not met their obligation to build on the land, according to Mayor Noelia Arroyo, who shared the update following a meeting to review progress on the city’s Housing Strategy.

27 of the original 41 plots have been excluded from the auction, as their owners applied for planning permission during the process. These applications include plans for around 170 new homes, a student residence with 97 rooms, as well as commercial units and parking spaces — accounting for around 60% of the total land under review.

Mayor Arroyo highlighted the fiscal incentives in place to encourage development in the historic centre. She also revealed that Region of Murcia government's forthcoming decree on affordable housing will introduce new measures aimed at making development in archaeologically sensitive areas more viable.

“In addition to the 90% discount on the construction tax (ICIO) available in the Old Town, and the direct financial aid for archaeological excavations, the regional government is offering compensation packages designed to ensure heritage protection does not hold back urban development,” she said.

“We want developers to have the support of the City Council in restoring our heritage — for it to stop being an obstacle and instead become an opportunity to recover Cartagena’s history, while also revitalising the urban fabric of the entire city centre. This way, we can protect the building volume and development potential of these plots,” said the mayor.

“We have a housing problem in the city centre, and it was important to provide greater legal certainty, faster administrative processes, and more incentives for developers,” she said.

Each of the 14 plots now listed includes key details such as land size, permitted building volume, urban planning regulations, number of storeys allowed, and the starting auction price. The information is accessible via the city council’s website.

The plots are located across several key parts of the Old Town, including streets such as Calles Aire, Balcones Azules, Duque, San Diego, and areas like Plaza San Francisco, Plaza Risueño and Calle Honda. Starting prices range between €114,434 and €408,212.

The auction follows the city council’s decision last year to launch formal procedures against 41 unused plots in the centre for breaching building obligations. A second phase targeting an additional 36 plots is already underway.

Most of the 14 auctioned sites fall under the “conservation-renewal” urban classification, are not protected as heritage sites, but do lie within the city’s archaeological zone A. As such, any future building work will be subject to archaeological oversight.

The auction process will be conducted according to public asset disposal regulations, with the aim of bringing disused land in the historic centre back into productive use.

Image: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena