MDA insists it supports 'genuine' property affordability measures
Association hits back at 'misleading' claims of property price control
The Malta Development Association on Tuesday dismissed Il-Kollettiv’s accusations of controlling property prices as “misleading”, insisting they support “genuine measures” to improve affordability especially for first-time buyers.
In a statement, the MDA said its “objection” to the affordable housing tenders “is not based on the fact that some consumers may acquire property below market prices".
Rather, it was concerned that the tenders “must be structured fairly and in the public interest”.
It insisted that a “better model” could deliver lower prices to consumers while ensuring that public land is used “properly and responsibly”, especially in the case of public land which is “being made available on terms that are equivalent to being free”.
On Monday, civil society group Il-Kollettiv branded the MDA a “property cartel” and called for the developers’ lobby group to be investigated following the resignations of three developers from the association.
Developers Paul Attard, Anton Camilleri, known as Tal-Franċiż, and Pio Vassallo stepped down from the Malta Development Association last week.
Times of Malta revealed how Camilleri and Vassallo were among the bidders for an affordable housing scheme that the MDA claims is unlawful state aid.
On Tuesday, the association said it “remains ready” to support the government in developing “fair, lawful and effective” models that “genuinely” improve housing affordability in Malta, adding it has “consistently” upheld this principle on the use of public land “irrespective of the identity of the developers involved”.
The MDA also noted that rising property prices “remain a serious concern”, adding that many of its members are “actively focused on providing homes for first time buyers” despite increasing cost pressures particularly from land prices, “excessive” bureaucracy, construction and finishing costs.
“Developers are often forced to acquire land at very high, and sometimes exaggerated, prices, which inevitably pushes final property prices upward,” the MDA said.