Quick answer: These two towns sit twenty minutes apart on the same coast and are usually compared on price. Price is the wrong variable. The question that decides the outcome is whether you can obtain a tourist licence for the specific property you buy, because Calpe has a deep stock of apartments built and organised for letting while Moraira is a low-density villa town where the village-centre communities most often refuse it. Get that answer first; everything else is detail.
Which of these two towns can you actually let?
Calpe was built to accommodate visitors. Its apartment stock is dense, much of it purpose-built for holiday use, and its communities of owners are largely populated by people who bought with letting in mind. A licensed apartment at La Fossa is an ordinary asset there rather than an exception.
Moraira was built to avoid that. Teulada-Moraira has kept density low by design, the stock skews heavily to detached villas on urbanizaciones, and the village-centre apartment buildings are small communities dominated by owner-occupiers and long-stay residents. Those communities are the ones most likely to have voted a prohibition into their statutes.
The consequence is that the same purchase decision carries different risk in each town.
| Calpe | Moraira | |
|---|---|---|
| Stock built for letting | Extensive, especially La Fossa | Limited; villa-dominated |
| Typical licence outcome on apartments | Usually obtainable | Frequently blocked by the community |
| Typical licence outcome on villas | Obtainable | Generally the easier route here |
| What blocks you | Rarely the town hall | Usually the community statutes |
| If the licence fails | Long-let fallback exists | Long-let market is thin |
That last row is the one to sit with. A Calpe apartment that cannot be licensed still has a residential tenant market to fall back on. A Moraira villa that cannot be licensed is a lifestyle asset, and if your case depended on rental income you have bought the wrong thing in the wrong town.
Send us an address in either town and we will establish the VUT position, the community's statutes and the municipal compatibility requirement before you make an offer.
Check the licence position on a specific addressWhat does a VUT actually require in each municipality?
Both towns sit in the Comunitat Valenciana, so the regional framework is identical: registration as a Vivienda de Uso Turístico with the Valencian tourism registry, supported by a municipal compatibility certificate confirming the property’s use is permitted where it stands.
Where they differ is what happens when the paperwork reaches the building.
Calpe’s ayuntamiento issues compatibility routinely for the zones where holiday letting is the established use, and the practical obstacle for a buyer is establishing that the specific community has not restricted it. In Teulada-Moraira the same regional registration applies, but detached villas on urbanizaciones are far easier to licence than village-centre apartments, because a villa has no community vote to lose.
- Registration attaches to the property, not to you. A licence is not automatically transferred on sale, so a seller’s assurance that “the flat has always been let” tells you about history rather than about what you will hold.
- The community statutes outrank the marketing. Since the 2019 reform, a community can restrict tourist use by a three-fifths majority, and once passed it binds you regardless of what the estate agent said.
- Ask for the registry reference, not a promise. A number can be checked; a statement cannot.
- Check whether a moratorium is in force. Municipal positions on new licences change, and the answer that was true last season is not automatically true now.
Red flag: the phrase “holiday rental potential” unaccompanied by a VUT reference. In Moraira especially, where much of the stock sits in communities that have voted against tourist use, potential is doing all the work in that sentence and none of it is enforceable.
How much does the licence position move the yield?
More than the price difference between the towns does, which is why leading with price is a mistake.
| Scenario | Calpe | Moraira |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed short-let, gross | 5.0% to 6.4% at La Fossa; 4.7% to 5.7% port and hilltop | 4.0% to 5.5%; El Portet trophy stock 3.5% to 4.5% |
| Net after costs, EU owner | roughly 2.4% to 3.0% | roughly 2.4% to 3.0% at the upper end of gross |
| Unlicensed, long-let fallback | Available, lower but real | Thin market, weak comparables |
| Unlicensed, no let | Lifestyle asset | Lifestyle asset |
Spain’s national gross benchmark was 5.45% in Q1 2026, so licensed Calpe stock at La Fossa sits at or above the national figure while Moraira sits below it. That gap is the compensation Calpe pays you for being a busier, denser, less exclusive town.
The costs that turn gross into net are the same in both places and are routinely understated: management at 15% to 28% of gross bookings on short lets, IBI, community fees, insurance, maintenance, and non-resident income tax at 19% of net for EU and EEA residents or 24% of gross for everyone else. A non-EU owner in either town loses the deductions entirely, and on the same property that is worth more than the difference between the two towns’ yields.
Licence availability moves the return here more than any difference in the properties does. Calpe holds dense licensed apartment stock with gross yields of 5.0% to 6.4% at La Fossa and entry from roughly €145,000, so a short-let model is achievable on ordinary stock. Moraira runs on low-density villas with gross yields of 4.0% to 5.5%, El Portet frontline at €4,000 to €6,000 per m2 and above, and village communities that frequently prohibit tourist letting in their statutes. Both sit in the Valencian Community, so a resale carries 9% ITP under €1,000,000 since June 2026 and a new build 10% IVA plus AJD. The gap in yield is therefore a gap in permission rather than in quality. Read the community statutes in Moraira before you read any yield projection at all.
A worked comparison on real numbers
Headline yields hide the two lines that decide the outcome: management on short lets, and which non-resident tax band you fall into. Here are the same two purchases carried through to what actually reaches an owner’s account.
Calpe, licensed two-bedroom at La Fossa, €280,000. Acquisition costs at 9% ITP plus notary, registry and legal work bring the committed capital to roughly €313,000. At the middle of the licensed band, say 5.7% gross on the purchase price, the property books about €15,960 a year. Management at 22% of gross takes €3,511. IBI, community fees, insurance and a maintenance provision realistically absorb another €3,400. That leaves roughly €9,049 before tax. An EU-resident owner pays 19% of that net and keeps about €7,330, a return near 2.3% on committed capital. A non-EU owner is taxed at 24% of the full €15,960 gross with nothing deductible, pays €3,830, and keeps about €5,219, closer to 1.7%.
Moraira, licensed villa on an urbanización, €520,000. Acquisition at the same 9% brings committed capital to roughly €581,000. At 4.8% gross the villa books about €24,960. Management on a detached property with a pool runs higher in absolute terms, and IBI, community or urbanización charges, pool servicing, garden maintenance and insurance are materially larger than on an apartment. Assume €5,500 management and €6,800 of running costs and the pre-tax figure is about €12,660, or roughly €10,255 after 19% for an EU owner: a return near 1.8% on committed capital.
Two conclusions follow, and neither is about which town is nicer. The first is that Calpe’s yield advantage survives the journey from gross to net, but it narrows, and it disappears entirely for a non-EU owner. The second is that a villa’s running costs scale with the property rather than with the rent, which is why Moraira’s numbers weaken as the ticket rises. Nobody should buy either town on a gross figure.
How do the zones differ inside each town?
Both towns are treated as single markets in most comparisons and neither is one.
| Zone | Character | What it means for a buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Calpe, La Fossa | Beachfront apartment strip, purpose-built for visitors | Deepest licensed stock and the strongest short-let case |
| Calpe, Puerto | Working port, year-round trade, mixed stock | Longer season, more local demand, lower peak rates |
| Calpe, hillside urbanizaciones | Detached and semi-detached, car-dependent | Quieter, weaker short-let demand, cheaper per m² |
| Moraira, El Portet | Small cove, trophy frontline | Highest prices, thinnest supply, lowest yields |
| Moraira, village centre | Compact apartment stock, owner-occupier communities | Where tourist-let restrictions concentrate |
| Moraira, urbanizaciones | Low-density villas with pools | The realistic licensed route in this municipality |
The practical reading is that a comparison between “Calpe” and “Moraira” is really a comparison between a specific zone in one and a specific zone in the other. La Fossa against an urbanización villa is a genuine investment choice with different risk on each side. El Portet against a Calpe hillside apartment is not a comparison at all, because the two are bought for entirely different reasons.
Seasonality separates them further. Calpe’s port and town centre carry enough year-round population to keep restaurants and services open through winter, which lengthens the lettable season and supports a long-let fallback. Moraira is quieter out of season by design and by planning, which is precisely what its buyers are paying for and precisely what limits the rental case.
What are you paying for, and what is the premium buying?
Calpe typically trades 15% to 35% below comparable Moraira specification per square metre. Two-bedroom apartments in Calpe Port or Centro run from roughly €145,000 to €320,000; village-centre and urbanización stock in Moraira runs €280,000 to €450,000. Sea-view frontline in El Portet reaches €4,000 to €6,000 and above per square metre, against €2,500 to €3,500 for La Fossa sea-view apartments.
The Moraira premium buys scarcity that planning protects. Low-density zoning limits how much can ever be built, which supports values through cycles and is a genuine argument for capital preservation. It does not buy yield, and it should not be sold as though it does.
Calpe’s Peñón de Ifach frontage produces a scarcity of its own on a smaller footprint: sea-view stock with the rock in frame is finite, and it prices accordingly against the rest of the town. That is a real premium inside a mid-market town rather than a premium across a whole municipality.
Do the taxes differ between them?
No, and this is where most comparisons waste space. Both municipalities are in the Comunitat Valenciana, and the tax that matters is set regionally rather than by the town hall.
| Line | Both towns |
|---|---|
| Resale under €1,000,000 | 9% ITP, reduced from 10% by Ley 5/2025 with effect from 1 June 2026 |
| Resale above €1,000,000 | 11% on the portion above the threshold |
| New build | 10% IVA plus 1.4% AJD |
| Notary, registry, legal | roughly 1.5% to 2.5% |
| Non-resident rental tax | 19% of net for EU and EEA residents, 24% of gross otherwise |
What changes between the towns is the cash amount, because the same percentage applied to a higher Moraira entry price produces a larger bill. A €450,000 Moraira resale carries €40,500 in ITP against €28,800 on a €320,000 Calpe apartment. That difference is real money, but it is a function of price rather than a reason to prefer one town.
What does Alicante’s foreign-buyer depth mean for your exit?
Alicante province recorded a 43.29% foreign-buyer share across 53,385 residential transactions in 2025, the highest concentration of any Spanish province, at 25.86 transactions per 1,000 inhabitants. Both towns draw on that pool, dominated by British, German, Dutch and Scandinavian buyers.
Practically, it means your eventual buyer is more likely to be an international purchaser paying cash than a Spanish buyer awaiting mortgage approval. That supports faster resale in both towns, but it supports them differently. Calpe’s mid-market apartments have many potential buyers and sell on price. Moraira’s villas have fewer potential buyers and sell on the specific property, which means a longer marketing period and less price sensitivity when the right buyer appears.
What no longer drives demand here is the residency angle. That route shut in 2025, and its disappearance mattered more to Moraira than to Calpe, because Moraira’s higher price points were exactly where the qualifying threshold used to sit. Buyers at that level now arrive for the place rather than for the permit.
What would change this answer?
The argument here is that licence availability, not price or prestige, separates these two towns. Three things would undo it, and they are worth checking rather than assuming:
- If the licence position in either municipality moved. These are municipal and regional decisions, revisited periodically, and a town that is closed to new registrations today may not be next year, or a town that grants them may stop. Everything above is a snapshot of a position that is by design changeable, which is exactly why it belongs in due diligence rather than in a general impression of the towns.
- If you buy a property that already holds a registration. Then the availability question is settled and you are comparing two coastal towns on their merits: aspect, walkability, the quality of the plot, how each feels in February. That is a legitimate comparison and a much simpler one, and it is the reason a licensed property commands the premium it does.
- If you never intend to let. For a buyer purchasing for their own use, none of this applies. Moraira’s quieter, lower-density character is a genuine attraction rather than a licensing consequence, and Calpe’s greater depth of services and transport is a genuine convenience. Neither town is trying to sell you a yield you will not collect.
If none of the three applies to you, treat the licence as the first question rather than the last one, and be willing to walk away from a property whose entire investment case depends on a permission that has not yet been granted.
Which town suits which buyer?
Calpe suits an investor whose case rests on rental income and who wants a realistic fallback if the licence does not come through; a buyer at a mid-market entry point who values liquid resale; and anyone who would rather own an ordinary apartment in a town that works year-round than a trophy asset in one that empties.
Moraira suits a buyer whose priority is capital preservation and use rather than yield; a villa purchaser above roughly €500,000 who wants low density and planning protection; and an owner content for letting to be an offset against running costs rather than the reason for buying.
Neither suits a buyer who has not established the licence position on the specific property before making an offer. In Calpe that is a check. In Moraira it is frequently the answer.
Insider tip: ask each town hall how many VUT compatibility certificates it issued in the last twelve months rather than whether licences are “available”. The first is a number an official can give you and the second is an opinion. A municipality issuing very few is telling you about its direction of travel before any moratorium is formally announced.
One further asymmetry is worth pricing. An owner who lives in Spain and self-manages removes the management line entirely, which is worth roughly a percentage point of net yield and changes which town wins. That option is realistic in Calpe, where the stock is compact, the season is long and a managing owner can turn a flat around between bookings without much difficulty. It is far less realistic on a Moraira villa with a pool and garden, where the physical work is greater and the property sits further from services. If you intend to manage the asset yourself, that consideration should carry more weight than the yield bands quoted anywhere on this page.
How do you actually check municipal compatibility?
The compatibility certificate is the step buyers most often assume their agent has handled, so it is worth knowing what it is and who issues it.
A Valencian tourist registration requires the municipality to confirm that tourist use is compatible with the planning designation of that specific address. It is issued by the ayuntamiento, Calpe for one town, Teulada-Moraira for the other, and it attaches to the address rather than to the owner or to the building generally. Two flats in the same block can receive different answers if their planning classifications differ.
Request it in writing, from the ayuntamiento, for the exact address including floor and door. An agent’s assurance that the area is fine is not the same document, and neither is a neighbour’s existing registration, which was granted under whatever rules applied on its own date.
What to verify before you offer
- Get the VUT registry reference for the exact property, and verify it against the Valencian registry rather than accepting a screenshot.
- Read the community statutes for any restriction on tourist use, and ask when the community last voted on it.
- Obtain the municipal compatibility position from the relevant ayuntamiento, Calpe or Teulada-Moraira, for that address.
- Establish whether any moratorium on new licences is currently in force.
- Model the return twice, once licensed and once on a long let, and decide whether you would still buy on the second number.
- Settle your own tax basis before comparing the towns, because a non-EU owner taxed on gross loses the licensed premium that is the entire argument for one of them.
- Retain independent counsel before the reservation, and give them the licence question first. In these two towns it is the issue most likely to make the purchase not worth doing, and it is cheapest to discover before you are committed.
- Ask the community administrator for the minutes of the last two annual general meetings, because a proposal to restrict tourist letting usually appears there before it becomes a rule.
For the wider market either town sits inside, read the Costa Blanca investment guide. Town-level detail is in our Calpe analysis and our Moraira analysis. The licence framework itself is covered in short-term rental licensing in Spain.
Frequently Asked Questions
They answer different questions. Calpe is the yield market: denser licensed apartment stock, gross 5.0% to 6.4% at La Fossa, entry from around €145,000, and a real long-let fallback. Moraira is the preservation market: low-density villas, gross 4.0% to 5.5%, and planning protection that supports value but not income.
Because it decides whether the asset produces income at all. A Calpe apartment refused a licence still has a residential tenant market. A Moraira villa refused one is a lifestyle asset, and if your case rested on rental income the purchase no longer works. The price gap between the towns is smaller than the gap between letting and not letting.
Usually the community of owners rather than the town hall. Since the 2019 reform a community can restrict tourist use by a three-fifths majority, and that restriction binds you whatever the agent said. Village-centre apartment communities in Moraira are the most likely to have done it.
No. Both are in the Comunitat Valenciana, where resale is 9% ITP below €1 million and 11% above following Ley 5/2025 from 1 June 2026, and new build is 10% IVA plus 1.4% AJD. Only the cash amount differs, because Moraira's higher entry prices produce a larger bill at the same rate.
Not automatically. The registration attaches to the property and its transfer has to be handled explicitly, so a seller's history of letting is not evidence of what you will hold. Ask for the registry reference and verify it before you commit.
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