Over the past few decades, property in Malta has witnessed an incredible rise, resulting in the Maltese Islands becoming an area of constant, rapid development. Property, nowadays, does not only refer to a home where one would seek comfort and shelter, however, has also come to stand for socio-economic needs, a business venture, or an investment.
The Maltese Islands have witnessed a dramatic influx of foreigners. Many of these foreigners have settled in Malta for living and work reasons. This therefore, has increased demand for property in Malta, brought about by various factors, including the success and need for skilled resources in certain economic sectors, government residency and immigration schemes, and the stable economic and political climate in Malta compared to other countries.
We may thus also note that Malta’s demography is drastically changing, and this in turn is affecting the property industry. Besides the rapid increase of incomers, the demography has also been greatly affected by changes in the Maltese family. With an increase in ‘single-parent families’, also comes an increase in property being sold or rented.
It is also a common trend for a number of Maltese individuals to hold a second residence. Although many are purchased as ‘holiday residences’, as previously mentioned – a large majority of these secondary residences are utilised as investment vehicles.
It is the steady price increase of property in Malta that can be considered to be one of the key drivers of people investing in property. It is believed that prices are on a perpetual hike and hence returns will be future proof. However, if one takes a broader view, it could be noted that prices can be easily – and quickly – slashed, thus leading to various negative repercussions.
However, with the present study increase of price, a rapid increase of development is noted, with some plans of over 38-storeys already being implemented. Environmentalist are showing great opposition to this, stating that the large amount of vacant property in Malta is enough to satisfy the needs of the influx of buyers.
Notwithstanding the stiff opposition for ‘high rises’, one needs to reflect clearly before opposing this new concept of developments. Of course, it must be ensured that the infrastructure is in place however, the fact of the matter really is that if ‘high end’ investors want to be attracted, as well as a better class of tourists to Malta, then it is product which must improve drastically. In this case, ‘high rise’ could be one of the options, opening new doors to property in Malta.
In 2020 the world has seen probably one of the worst economic disasters due to the Covid-19 outbreak at the beginning of 2020 thus resulting in loss of thousands of jobs, closures of businesses, and all the repercussions such a pandemic brings with it. Considering all the negative factors 2020 has been a trying time for many Countries and possibly the worst is yet to come. However, the property industry in Malta has actually seen a rise in sales, with minimal drop in prices, which of course augurs well for the near future.