Updated 1.20pm

Over 10 per cent of tenants live in homes that are overcrowded, official data has revealed. 

According to data issued by the National Statistics Office on Wednesday, 10.9 per cent of persons living in rented dwellings live in homes that are overcrowded.

The number goes down to 3.4 per cent for persons living in private households, the NSO said. On the other hand, the overcrowding rate of owner-occupied households was of 1.9 per cent.

The data was compiled from the EU-SILC survey, an annual panel survey that collects information on the income and living conditions of private households in Malta and Gozo. In 2018, the year under review, almost 4,000 households were interviewed.

In a reaction to the data, the Family Ministry noted that 28,500 more people were homeowners in 2018 than in 2013, with most not having any debt on their home. 

Nine out of every 10 new houses which came onto the market during that period has ended up being owned by its inhabitants, Family Minister Michael Falzon said.

According to the NSO, 55.4 per cent of all inhabited main dwellings in Malta and Gozo were either apartments or maisonettes, while 39.9 per cent were semi-detached or terraced houses. 

Results also showed that the largest proportion of main dwellings (32.5 per cent) contained five rooms. This was followed by 23.2 per cent composed of six rooms, and 22.7 per cent of seven or more rooms.

Home ownership was the most common type of tenure status, the NSO revealed, with 78.8 per cent of all households owning their main dwelling. Of these, 73.8 per cent reported that they never had a mortgage on their main dwelling or have repaid their debt in full. Among households with dependent children, 84 per cent were homeowners. This was higher than that for households without dependent children in which case 76.2 per cent were homeowners. 

A different trend was observed among rented main dwellings, with 18.9 per cent of households without dependent children being tenants compared to 11.3 per cent of households with dependent children.

Housing costs were perceived to be somewhat of a burden for 57.2 per cent of all those living in households. A further 19.8 per cent considered these costs to be a heavy burden while, the remaining 23 per cent said they were no burden at all. Moreover, 54.2 per cent of persons who were severely materially deprived considered the housing cost to be a heavy burden.

In contrast, 27.5 per cent of people at-risk-of-poverty considered the housing cost to be a heavy burden.