The average price of residential properties sold during March was of €215,057 according to a KPMG analysis on Malta’s economic outlook published on Friday.

This represents a slight dip from the first two months of the year, but a higher average than almost any other period over the past two years.

The analysis suggests that prices have gradually been increasing over this period, with the average price being just over €185,000 in January 2021. The highest monthly average was recorded last July, when prices peaked at just under €235,000.

KPMG’s report also shows that anybody looking to buy property would have seen that the average cost advertised during the last quarter of 2022 increase by nearly three per cent over the same period in 2021. Apartments, the most common type of property advertised, increased by just under two per cent.

Permits

The number of permits for residential units increased by a quarter in 2022, with over 9,500 issued throughout the year.

The average between 2013 and 2022 was of just over 7,600 permits per year.

The locality with the highest number of approved residential permits was St Paul’s Bay, where 565 new dwellings were approved.

Victoria in Gozo also ranked highly, with only four towns in Malta having more residential dwellings approved throughout the year.

Just over 13,000 residential properties were sold throughout 2022 for a total value of €2.7 billion. While this represents a slight one per cent decrease in the number of sales over the previous year, it marks a five per cent increase in value.

Meanwhile, promise-of-sale agreements shrunk by over a fifth in 2022, dipping to just over 11,000 for the year.

A dip?

Early indications suggest that many of these figures may be dipping in 2023. A total of 885 residential permits were approved in January 2023, a decrease of just under 7% over the same month in 2022.

Likewise, the number of final deeds for residential properties signed in the first three months of 2023 decreased by almost 10% over the same period in 2022.

However, promise of sale agreements appear to be bouncing back after last year’s dip, registering a 15% increase in the first three months of this year compared to last.