Affordable Housing minister buys €140,000 penthouse from Portelli

Updated 3.45pm with the PN's reaction below.

Affordable Housing Minister Roderick Galdes bought a duplex penthouse in Gozo’s capital, including a garage, airspace and rooftop jacuzzi for €140,000 from Joseph Portelli’s Excel Investments. 

A spokesperson for Galdes told Times of Malta that the two-bedroom shell form property, which appears to have been bought for below current market prices, was “reserved” by the minister at pre-construction phase in 2021, when prices were lower. The contract was signed this year.

The penthouse is within the Ħal Gelmus complex in Victoria, which is being developed by a company owned by Portelli and his business partner Mark Agius. A company spokesperson rejected any suggestion that the minister had received preferential pricing, saying the amount paid was fully consistent with the standard rates offered to all early purchasers during 2020/2021. 

“It is standard practice in the property market for developments to offer lower, early-release prices before or during construction.

“This supports early cash flow for the project and provides better value for buyers willing to commit at an early stage. More than a dozen other clients also reserved their units early under the same pricing structure,” the spokesperson said. 

Although the property was “reserved” in 2021, the promise-of-sale agreement was signed in 2024 and the final contract in January 2025. 

Galdes provided Times of Malta with the reservation agreement, which says a €5,000 deposit was being paid for the property in 2021, with him and his wife appearing as the “prospective purchaser”.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has moved to shield his ministers’ assets from public scrutiny by refusing to publish their latest annual wealth declarations.

Older declarations show Roderick Galdes to be the owner of houses in Qormi, Luqa, Xagħra, an apartment in Middlesex, UK, land and a house in Sicily and an unconverted house in Siġġiewi

Older declarations show Galdes to be the owner of houses in Qormi, Luqa, Xagħra, an apartment in Middlesex, UK, land and a house in Sicily and an unconverted house in Siġġiewi. 

Galdes says questions are an invasion of privacy

In a separate legal letter sent to Times of Malta, Galdes’ lawyer Rachel Tua said the fact that Times of Malta was asking questions about a property purchase by the minister and his wife shows an “intention to intervene in, or intrude upon, my clients’ private lives by making inquiries into matters that are, in fact, trivial.”

Tua said it is wrong to compare the purchase of a “declared property” in shell form in Gozo in 2021, with current market prices. 

“... You are hereby called upon to immediately cease and desist from this course of conduct, which is based on inaccuracies and speculation, and which constitutes harassment and defamation. These statements are not expressions of fair comment, but rather false assertions intended to damage my clients’ reputation and livelihood,” Tua said.

Publicly available information from an estate agent’s website and the developers’ own social media posts indicate that the current minimum price for a penthouse and garage within the Ħal Gelmus complex is circa €240,000. 

Minister says this is an attempt to stop his work

In a statement on Sunday in reaction to the Times of Malta story, Galdes said this was "nothing more than an attempt to stop my work and hinder the political work I am doing with honesty and a sense of duty."

He insisted that he had reserved the property, shell form, at Ħal Gelmus "at the same prices offered to everyone at that time."

He said he had paid a deposit like everybody did when buying off-plan. 

"To compare the price of a reserved property four years ago with current prices, especially when speaking of a finished property, is wrong and creates a distorted picture," he said.

He said he would carry on working with determination, dedication and without fear for Maltese and Gozitan families. 

The minister’s dealings with big business came under scrutiny this week over accusations of “hobnobbing” with contractors involved in the construction of multi-million-euro social housing projects overseen by the government-owned Malita Investments. 

Ex-Malita Investments chairperson Marlene Mizzi alleged she was removed by Galdes after standing up to him about this “hobnobbing”. 

Galdes responded by saying he did not get involved in operational issues and only wanted to ensure Malita projects were finished on time. On the same day Mizzi made her allegations, news broke that Malita’s executive chairman Johan Farrugia had resigned.

The company’s board on Wednesday insisted its decisions were not politically influenced.

Standards Commissioner asked to investigate

The Momentum political party said on Sunday it had asked the Standards Commissioner to investigate Galdes for a potential ethical breach.

It said that in the same year that Galdes signed the promise of sale for the penthouse - 2024 - the Housing Authority, which falls under Galdes, granted a multi-million euro housing contract to Portelli.  

The contract was for a 10-year lease, with the government paying between €3,250 and €9,417 per year per apartment for a total of five different blocks of apartments.

Truly a case of affordable housing for the minister - PN

The Nationalist Party in a statement said this truly was an example of  “affordable housing” for Minister Roderick Galdes!

It asked whether Prime Minister Robert Abela intended to take any action against Galdes and to publicly declare whether such conduct by a member of his Cabinet was acceptable to him.

"Above all, Robert Abela must explain to young people and first-time buyers why they are having to work day and night to buy their first home, take on heavy bank loans and rely on parental assistance just to have a chance of becoming homeowners – and why, even then, they are paying far higher prices than the extraordinarily advantageous amount paid by Minister Roderick Galdes," shadow minister for housing Ivan Bartolo said. 

He observed that the news that the minister had paid just €140,000 had come out in the same week that a report showed that apartments now cost around €555,000, meaning four times as much.

The Nationalist MP also pointed out that Roderick Galdes is currently already under investigation after the PN requested the National Audit Office to examine allegations of political interference by the Minister within Malita Investments.