Most dwellings are owner occupied

The average living space in Malta is 106.4 square metres, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

This varies between 97.2 square metres for dwellings situated in the Southern Harbour district and 126.7 square metres for dwellings in the Western district. Terraced houses contain an average area of 130.0 square metres, maisonettes an average area of 88.8 square metres and flats (including apartments and penthouses) an average area of 85.2 square metres. Terraced houses in the Southern Harbour district are the smallest houses with an average area of 117.7 square metres, compared with terraced houses in the Western district which contain, on average an additional 29.2 square metres of living space area.

Maisonettes (including ground floor tenements) in the Southern Harbour district are the smallest maisonettes (including ground floor tenements) and contain an average area of 80.6 square metres. On the other hand, maisonettes situated in the Western district are the largest and contain an average area of 106.5 square metres.

With flats (including apartments and penthouses), those situated in Gozo are smallest and, on average, contain 58.7 sqaure metres of living space area. On the other hand, the biggest flats (including apartments and penthouses) are those which are found in the Northern Harbour district. These contain an average area of 108.1 square metres.

With time, dwellings seem to be getting bigger. In fact, the average living space area for dwellings constructed prior to or before 1920, is 86.3 square metres, whilst those built during 1991 or after have an average living space area of 120.4 square metres.

The NSO carried out a survey of the living space in private households in September 2002, taking sample of 1,000 households randomly selected from the Electoral database.

A total of 692 households accepted to participate in the survey, which was carried out by questionnaire.

The greatest proportion of dwellings were constructed between 1961 and 1976. In fact, during this period 27,700 dwellings were constructed which account for 19.3 per cent of all dwellings. Most dwellings are situated in the Northern Harbour district. In fact, it was estimated that there are 39,043 dwellings, or 27.3 per cent, in this district.

The majority of private households live in terraced houses, maisonettes (including ground floor tenements) and flats (including apartments and penthouses). It was estimated that 53,839 dwellings, or 37.6 per cent are terraced houses, 39,259 dwellings, or 27.4 per cent, are flats (including apartments and penthouses) and 34,991 dwellings, or 24.4 per cent are maisonettes (including ground floor tenements). Another 11,971 dwellings, or 8.4 per cent, are semi-detached houses, fully detached houses, bungalows and converted farmhouses.

Most dwellings are owner occupied. Indeed, 100,319 dwellings, or 70.1 per cent, are owner occupied while 33,730 dwellings, or 23.6 per cent, are rented unfurnished. Dwellings which are rented furnished account for only 3,699 dwellings, or 2.6 per cent of the total.

Altogether it was estimated that private dwellings have an average of 8.8 rooms per dwelling. This figure varies significantly by district. In fact, dwellings in the Southern Harbour district contain an average of 8.0 rooms while dwellings situated in the Western district contain an average of 10.1 rooms.

Terraced houses have an average of 10.3 rooms whilst flats (including apartments and penthouses) contain an average of 7.5 rooms. Maisonettes have an average of 7.7 rooms. It seems that more recently built terraced houses and maisonettes (including ground floor tenements) contain more rooms than older ones. In fact, the average number of rooms for terraced houses which were constructed during 1920 or before contain an average of 8.8 rooms, whilst those which were built in 1991 or after contain an average of 11.1 rooms.

On the other hand, maisonettes (including ground floor tenements) which were built during 1920 or before contain an average of 6.3 rooms, whilst those which were constructed during 1991 or after contain an average of 9.3 rooms.

It was found that all dwellings contain a kitchen and at least one bedroom. It was estimated that around 3,152 dwellings, or 2.2 per cent, dwellings do not have a bathroom or shower.

Most dwellings (125,107, or 87.4 per cent) have at least two bedrooms. Some 112,532 dwellings, or 78.6 per cent, have at least one sitting room. Out of all dwellings, 64,211, or 44.8 per cent, have a spare toilet.