Markina-Xemein

Can you build a house on rustic land?

The Basque Country allows a new house on rustic land only when a farm needs it. Otherwise it has to go in a village, or restore a building.

Ley 2/2006, art. 28. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Plan General (a full town plan), from 2023. The region's planning viewer ↗

The national urban information system (SIU) maps the land class for 98% of the municipality.

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

Is there water?

No well or borehole is recorded in Markina-Xemein. That is not proof there is no water: ask local drillers. One spring is recorded.

Ground: 40% low permeability, local groundwater only; 32% karstic or fissured aquifer, medium productivity; 16% karstic or fissured aquifer, high productivity; 8.5% practically impermeable.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• 2 fires since 2016 reached the municipality: 19 ha in all, the latest in 2023.
• 0.7% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 0.7% in the 500-year one.
• Not a radon zone.

Living here

• 4G reaches 100% of homes; fibre 94%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 1,274 mm a year (1971–2000), about 1,076 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 22 °C, about 24.1 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 12 a year, about 4 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Etxebarria · Mutriku · Mendaro · Elgoibar · Berriatua · Eibar · Amoroto · Ziortza-Bolibar