Property deals in September followed the trend of the past few months, with fewer final deeds compared to the same month last year, but a higher number of promises of sale.

The National Statistics Office said the number of final deeds of sale of residential property amounted to 815 during September, a decrease of 252 deeds from September 2022.

A total of 1,026 promise of sale agreements relating to residential property were registered, an increase of 52 agreements over the same period last year.

The final deeds of sale decreased by 23.6 per cent, whereas promise of sale agreements increased by 5.3 per cent.

Times of Malta found last month that more than half of all promise of sale agreements are now being extended beyond their original date, with worker shortages and bureaucratic delays stalling the process of buying a property.

Sales value down 9.1%

The value of deeds completed last month totalled €227.8 million,  a decrease of 9.1 per cent when compared to the corresponding value recorded in September 2022.

Property sales in September have been the lowest at least since January 2021.

749 (or 91.9 per cent) of the final deeds of sale involved individual buyers (households), with companies accounting for virtually all the rest. The value of the deeds involving individual buyers (households) amounted to €181.9 million, equivalent to 79.9 per cent of the total value.

The highest numbers of final deeds of sale were in St Paul's Bay (54), Birkirkara (50) and Marsascala (40) (Table 7, Chart 2a). The sum of agreements recorded in these localities corresponded to 17.7 per cent of the total final deeds of sale. The lowest numbers were recorded in the Western District.

Promise of sale agreements

In September 2023, 1,026 promise of sale agreements for residential property were registered, an increase of 5.3 per cent over the previous year. Individual potential buyers (households) accounted for 926 (or 90.3 per cent) of these agreements, while the rest mainly involved companies.

The highest number involved properties in St Paul's Bay (101) and Birkirkara (53). 

The NSO said its data is based on residential property sale registrations with the tax authority. The number of contracts/agreements signed and those registered during a particular period may differ because of a time lapse between the signing of the contract and its actual registration.

Correction October 11, 2023: A previous version misstated the areas with the lowest number of property sales and highest number of promise and sale agreements.