Huércal de Almería

Can you build a house on rustic land?

Andalucía requires at least 2.5 ha for a new house on rustic land.

Other cases: 5 ha on forest land.

Decreto 550/2022, art. 31. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Normas Subsidiarias (an older, simpler plan), from 1999. The region's planning viewer ↗

The national urban information system (SIU) maps the land class for 100% of the municipality.

Only the town hall can confirm it, in writing: ask for a certificado urbanístico.

Is there water?

IGME records 116 wells and boreholes in Huércal de Almería. Half of the 114 with a depth found water at 12–95 m. One measured yield: 40 L/s.

Ground: 51% karstic or fissured aquifer, high productivity; 20% low permeability, local groundwater only; 20% porous aquifer, high productivity; 6.4% practically impermeable.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• 3 fires since 2016 reached the municipality: 1,772 ha in all, the latest in 2026.
• 7.6% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 9.9% in the 500-year one.
• 7% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 46% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• Not a radon zone.
• Basic seismic acceleration 0.14 g: new buildings need seismic design.

Living here

• 4G reaches 100% of homes; fibre 98%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 169 mm a year (1971–2000), about 145 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 30 °C, about 32.7 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 0 a year, about 0 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Benahadux · Viator · Gádor · Pechina · Almería