Central Bank of Malta on Property Prices

Property prices down 2.7% in 2008

by di-ve.com - editorial@di-ve.com
Current Affairs -- 09 April 2009 -- 11:45CEST
Property prices in 2008 fell by 2.7 per cent, according to the Central Bank of Malta, but some categories did better than others.
Advertised asking prices for flats in shell form and in finished form, which together make up over half of the sample, were down by 2 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively, while those for villas and terraced houses
declined by 3.7 per cent and 1.8 per cent.

On the other hand, higher prices were asked for 2 other categories. Prices of maisonettes in shell form
were up by 2.6 per cent, while those of town houses, which account for 5.4 per cent of sampled properties and display a high degree of volatility, increased by 10.4 per cent. Meanwhile, prices of finished maisonettes and houses of character remained roughly unchanged from 2007.

The sector seems to be self-adjusting to the oversupply resulting from the building frenzy of the past few years. The number of permits issued in 2008 for dwellings dropped by 39.7 per cent to 6,836.

The decline was spread across all major categories including flats, the predominant category, and maisonettes, which fell by 39.7 per cent and 48.1 per cent, respectively.

Permits for the redevelopment of old houses into blocks of flats or maisonettes also declined, thus reversing the recent rising trend.

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