Maltese households had the lowest expenditure on housing and utilities among EU states in 2019.

On average, households in Malta only devoted around 12.3 per cent of expenditure to housing, water and electricity, a far cry from the EU average of 23.5 per cent, a study published by Eurostat shows.

In 2019, the share of household expenditure devoted to housing was largest in Finland (28.8 per cent). Malta was followed by Lithuania (14.9 per cent) and Cyprus (15.6 per cent).

The data also showed that in 2019 roughly 80 per cent of the population in Malta owned their home while 20 per cent lived in rented accommodation. The majority said they lived in a flat (56.9 per cent) while the remaining 42.8 per cent lived in a house.

Across the EU some 70 per cent of the population lived in a home that they owned, while 30 per cent in rented housing. The highest shares of ownership were observed in Romania (96 per cent), Hungary (92 per cent) and Slovakia (91 per cent).

Maltese households were also the least likely in the EU to dedicate disposable income to housing costs, with only 8.2 per cent dipping into disposable income to cover the expenses in 2019.